A Zen evening all around

Now & Zen Wasabi White (2007)
Origin: France (Alsace)
Price: $10

I can't think of a more appropriate duo: Now & Zen Wasabi White and dinner at Zen Japanese Cuisine in Mechanicsburg. Just what I needed -- an evening of relaxation.

I must admit that this wine was a complete impulse buy, but it must be marketed to people just like me. Sushi is one of my great loves and I'm a complete wasabi hound -- there's not enough wasabi unless my eyes start tearing! This wine claims to work as a calming agent for spicy Asian cuisine. I'm game to try it. Plus, the bottle has a cool artsy label, showing a man in a rowboat riding an overly tall wave. What's not to love?

Since last night was riesling and gewurztraminer night with my wine club, it was an added bonus that this wine contains both of those varietals. Here's the breakdown: 40 percent sylvaner, 30 percent pinot blanc, 15 percent riesling and 15 percent gewurztraminer.

The wine was very mellow, smooth and buttery, much like it promised. I appreciated it being not too sweet, as some rieslings and gewurztraminers can often be. While it was light on fruit, there were definite pineapple and lemon notes, with a somewhat minerally finish.

Now on to dinner. I've heard rave reviews for Zen, even from a half-Japanese friend of mine. So I had high expectations, maybe too high. We were a very large party, but the appetizers did come out right away. My edamame were delightfully plump and perfectly dusted with sea salt.

Things quickly went downhill after the edamame. I was baffled that it took an hour and 15 minutes for the rest of our food to come out. This, of course, gave us the opportunity to sample the selection of rieslings and gewurztraminers scattered around the table, yet it was still quite a wait. I have a little test for comparing sushi restaurants -- I always order a tuna roll and a shrimp tempura roll to see how each place compares. Sadly, I was disappointed in both here. The rolls themselves were notably smaller than the average, not to mention the meager rations of fish. The tempura was soggy and they added mayo to that roll, which in my book is an immediate negative. And get this, they didn't even bring any wasabi with the rolls. What kind of sushi place forgets to give you wasabi? Unbelievable.

At least I was in good company and sampled many delightful wines, which made for a relaxing evening nonetheless. More on those other wines later. True to the label on the Now & Zen bottle, the wine was in fact a soothing counterpart to the spicy wasabi and does "bring peace to your palette."