Press Archive

Roger Morris | The News Journal | November 2006

Local Wines, American Tradition

Centreville Cafe owner chooses Brandywine Valley gems to complement Thanksgiving dishes

Susan Teiser strides through her Centreville Cafe, a bottle of wine in each hand, on her way to the open kitchen at the back of the ground floor of the sprawling eatery in an old Victorian home that fronts on Kennett Pike.

Late-afternoon regulars, each with a warm greeting or a story to tell, wander in and out in small-town fashion to get a hot mocha latte or a missed-lunch snack or a slice or two of fresh takeout vegetable quiche that sits invitingly on the counter next to the cash register.

In the kitchen, three or four staff people move back and forth between the large refrigerators, center-aisle range and the cramped countertop prep areas, putting together entrees and desserts for the cafe's display case and for an afternoon delivery for Teiser's sister business - Montrachet Fine Foods catering services.

This seems like the ideal place to come to talk turkey — or, more specifically, which Brandywine Valley wines would go well with what Thanksgiving dishes.

"I grow most of my own herbs and vegetables," says Teiser, hair pulled back and fashionably thin in spite of the on-the-job temptations, "and I buy locally whenever I can."

Although the cafe is a bring-your-own bottle place, Teiser is often asked to provide or recommend wines for her catering clients. A member of the Chaine des Rotisseurs wine society, she says she "drinks wine from $5 up — retail price doesn't influence me." Her husband, Patrick Giacomini, who works in the financial industry in New York, prefers New World wines, she says, while she personally goes with the European classics.

But not when it comes to Thanksgiving.

"I strongly believe you drink American wines for an American holiday," she says.

When matching wine and food, her preference is to taste a wine before she chooses the dish to go with it, or at least before she cooks the dish. "For example, if I chose a great merlot to go with lamb, I would season it with berries rather than heavy garlic."

Teiser sets down the two bottles of wine — La Prime Donna, a white blend from Va La in Avondale, and a viognier from Paradocx in Landenberg — next to a ceramic casserole dish filled with a chicken Marbella, which is stuffed with vegetables and prunes.

Then she pours a glass of each wine and quickly tastes. She comments first on the flowery fragrance of the Va La blend, then on its crisp finish and smiles. "It's not what you would expect by the nose." Then she sips the viognier. "I would choose this with the Marbella because the dish has a marinade and has both sweet and savory components. And the viognier has the fruitiness to match it. I think the Prima Donna would go perfectly with a lobster bisque, light seafood, mushroom fishes, even quail."

After a few words with her staff and a chat with two customers walking their dog, Teiser leads us into what used to be the building's living room and is now one of the cafe's two dining areas to taste the rest of the dozen bottles. All were produced locally, just over the Pennsylvania line, by the six members of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail — Kreutz Creek in West Grove, Folly Hill in Kennett Square, Twin Brook in Gap, and Chaddsford in Chadds Ford, in addition to Va La and Paradocx. In the corner, a customer sips coffee and works on a lap top, while we sit at a table in front of a bay window.

We begin with a sparkling wine and, 30 minutes later, finish with a cabernet sauvignon, all locally produced.

For years, Teiser, a graduate of Brandywine High School, traveled the globe for DuPont, where she worked in marketing and strategic business planning, which gave her the opportunity to sample many cuisines and wines to match.

"All of my vacations have been planned around food and wine," she says.

After leaving DuPont and working for a while on her own, she decided to open Centreville Cafe in the historic northern Delaware village in 2003. A year later, she opened Montrachet catering, and in 2005 she brought them together under the same roof.

"I've always entertained a lot," she says as she sips a Chaddsford pinot noir, her favorite of the tasting, "but I regard myself as a cook and not a chef. I've read through Julia Child and all the other books, but I've never gone to culinary school."

And what will she be cooking at home on Thanksgiving?

"Oh, I'll be here," she says, explaining that many of her catering clients like holiday meals or at least a particular dish. "I'm here 364 days a year," she says cheerfully. "I take Christmas off. But I love doing this."

Teiser looks down at the pinot noir in her glass. "I would want to have this with duck or goose even venison — this is a big wine."

Then she goes back to her kitchen, no doubt with visions of cranberries and drumsticks — all partnered with the appropriate wine — dancing in her head.

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