A fantastic pairing

I recognize that I am supposed to write about wine and politics, so I will describe the wine that the Mrs. and I enjoyed last night as an excuse to also describe the steak we had with it - or more to the point, the way we prepared the steak.

I'll preface by saying that last night's pairing worked incredibly well because we paid as much attention to the steak as we did to the wine. This approach is key, and is often ignored by people who know one but just slide past on the other. In general, remember that fattier meat usually pairs better with younger, more powerful, tannic reds. That means that a super-lean, grass-fed filet might not pair as well with your favorite young Australian shiraz as it will with a more elegant Bordeaux or Meritage (an American word coined in 1989 that rhymes with "heritage" - don't try to impose any fancy-sounding French pronunciation here; you'll come across as either arrogant or ignorant (or both) if you ask your server to recommend a nice "meritaaaaj.")

Our choice of steak was grain-fed USDA Choice filets. Choice is one step below Prime in the USDA grading scale that is primarily based on the amount of marbling, or fat, in the meat. It's also a step below in price, which is good for the pocketbook. For preparation, I started with a tip from Morton's Steakhouse to get the meat out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking to let it approach room temperature. This is to allow the temperature to slowly rise before being exposed to the harsh environment of cooking, which will reward you with a more consistent, evenly-cooked steak.

While sitting out, I seasoned both sides of the steaks with a liberal amount of kosher salt, some fresh cracked pepper, and a little safflower oil. The jagged edges of the kosher salt stick better to the meat than other salt varieties, which helps create the flavorful crust on the outside after searing. The safflower oil has one of the highest smoke points of the cooking oils, which will come in handy. You see, all cooking oils have a temperature at which they will start smoking, indicating their molecular structure is breaking down and, more important to your taste buds, the flavors are turning bitter. I don't want to sear meat applied with olive oil over very high heat - I will be left with a smoky, bitter-tasting mess.

I pre-heated my oven to 500 degrees, and several minutes before searing, I placed a cast iron skillet on a burner over very high heat. At this point, I was using tips from Alton Brown of Good Eats fame. Once searing began, I was only a minute away from moving to the oven, so I wanted to make sure everything was ready to go. I placed the steaks on the skillet and did not touch them for 30 seconds, after which I flipped them and seared the other side for 30 seconds. One more flip and I quickly moved the skillet into the 500 degree oven. After two minutes in the oven, I flipped the steaks and cooked an additional two minutes. I removed the skillet, placed the steaks on a plate, and covered with foil. At that point, I needed to let the steaks rest, and I didn't want them to cool too much. Resting allows the intensely-heated juices to uniformly reintegrate themselves into the meat. The four minutes in the oven at that heat cooked the 1.5"-1.75" thick steaks to medium-rare, and any additional "cooking" under the foil while they rested was minimal. At no point in the process did we pierce the meat with a thermometer.

This method rewarded us with the most flavorful, juicy steaks we've cooked at home. The combination of searing on a burner and cooking in the oven allowed a mix of techniques best suited for achieving separate goals. This is something that can be more difficult to accomplish solely by using a grill.

Now onto the wine. Joe Heitz of Heitz Cellar served in the Army Air Corps (predecessor to the Air Force) during World War II and went to the University of California at Davis on the GI Bill, graduating in 1948 with a degree in enology. After several stints in different capacities, including working for California's 20th century wine Jedi, Andre Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu Vineyards, he and his wife Alice purchased eight acres of vineyards just south of St. Helena in the Napa Valley. Joe really got on the map, however, when he acquired the 1966 harvest of fruit from Tom and Martha May's vineyard in Oakville. Joe's first bottling of Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon placed that particular wine among California's, and indeed the world's elite red wines. Many of the world's finest cellars and restaurant wine lists include choice vintages of this magnificent wine.

Heitz Cellar offers two other less-storied, but still outstanding cabernets: Bella Oaks (since 1976) and Trailside (since 1989), both from vineyards in Rutherford (Napa Valley) . We went with a 1998 Trailside. While 1998 is not a blockbuster vintage for Napa wine, primarily due to problems with El Niño, some vineyards and winemakers lucked out and made some beautiful wines. Our bottle aged gracefully and packed more elegance than power, which is what David O'Day, wine director for Del Frisco's Restaurant Group recommends for a lean cut of filet. Its core of currant and soft tannins was the perfect complement to one of our most memorable Valentine's Day dinners.