Tecnoemotional cuisine inspires new Abafado Molecular wine from Luis Pato
Winemaker Luis Pato is a legend in his native Portugal and eight-time winner of the Winemaker of the Year award from Wine & Spirits magazine.
Yet this young-at-heart grandfather is far from resting on his laurels. Ever restless, he’s just launched a new wine called Abafado Molecular that is inspired by the cuisine once known as molecular gastronomy. In fact, the AM, as it’s called, is made using a process that is also used in the kitchens of tecnoemotional chefs, called cryoextraction.Sounds complicated, but it’s not really… The Abafado Molecular is a wine that, just like Port, has its fermentation process halted. But while in Port wine that is achieved by adding alcohol, in the AM fermentation is halted by extreme cooling, once the alcoholic content reaches 10% (hence the term cryoextraction, also used to describe the process of extracting the juice of frozen grapes to make icewine).
The advantage is that the wine stays at 10% alcohol, and is therefore quite light and delicate. Luis Pato believes that it’s the perfect wine to be paired with the avant-garde cuisine of Adrià, Blumenthal et al, also because it would take much longer for diners to get drunk and/or numb their palates. Pairing is made easier by offering three versions of Abafado Molecular: white, red and rosé.
Whether the wine catches on remains to be seen, but one can’t deny that it’s a very ingenious idea….
