Sparklers (2021) s01e09 Episode Script

1
(glass clinking)
(gentle music)
- [Claire] Welcome to "Sparklers,"
part cooking competition and travel show,
featuring some of the
world's best sparkling wines.
Each week, the contestants
have specific ingredients
they must pair with a sparkling wine.
- [George] There are two
challenges for each wine.
A perfect bite, and a main dish.
- [Claire] With each challenge,
three points are on the
table for the winners.
- [George] At stake is
an all expense trip paid
to Limoux, France, the
birthplace of sparkling wine,
to visit Faire La Fête
sparkling wine house.
- [Claire] I'm so sorry, darlings,
but there can only be one winner.
The winners are
George and Maryam.
(triumphant music)
- [Meghan] Oh no, man!
- They're so competitive.
- [Claire] The points as they stand.
Maryam, is at nine points,
George is at nine points,
Claire is at nine points,
Matthew Kaner is at six points,
and Meghan is at three points.
- Yikes!
- [Claire] You got this.
- Yikes.
(playful music)
- [George] Yo, we are here.
- Ay, what's up?
- We're in Sonoma!
- Hello!
- Yo!
- We're in Oregon. We're in Sonoma.
- Yes!
- So good to see you.
- Holy shit.
- Welcome back!
- So we have left Oregon
and Lytle Barnett.
We traveled down the west coast
and we're now here in gorgeous Sonoma
at DeLoach Vineyards.
It is one of the most beautiful wineries
in Sonoma.
- This is dope.
- He dressed for the occasion.
- [Claire] There is an incredible garden.
Lots of herbs, flowers, vegetables.
There are chickens on the property.
(chickens crowing)
- This is friendly for now.
- I know, right?
- Right.
- [Claire] There's just
so much at our disposal
directly here on the property
that we can implement in these dishes.
So it gives the dishes a
sense of place as well,
which is really, really exciting.
- Welcome to Sparklers in Sonoma
at DeLoach Vineyards!
(group cheering)
(inspiring music)
- [Claire] Love it.
- [George] Let's do it!
(lighthearted music)
- [George] Yes!
- [Matthew] Ooh, I'm thirsty.
- [George] I know, right?
- [Maryam] All right.
- [George] Yes, yes, yes.
- [Matthew] Wine country.
- I missed you all.
- [Matthew] Sonoma, California.
- [George] Yes.
- Crackling fire.
- [Claire] Crackling fire.
- Beautiful.
- And of course,
more beautiful sparkling wine!
- [George] Amazing champagne.
- And this time-
- [Matthew] May we say champagne?
- Yes!
- [Claire] Champagne.
- [Matthew] We can finally say champagne.
- [Claire] And not just any champagne.
- [George] One of the
best producers, honestly.
- [Maryam] Ruinart is the
oldest champagne house.
They've been making exclusively champagne
since 1729.
This is not only the gold
standard of champagne,
but also of Blanc de Blanc.
- Ruinart is incredible, obviously.
I've met Frédéric,
the chef de cave.
And he was just so intellectual
and interesting to talk to.
- The man who makes the wines at Ruinart,
Frédéric.
He's such a special guy.
- My name is Frédéric Panaiotis,
I am the cellar master
for Maison Ruinart, champagne Ruinart.
I've been here for 14 years.
- [Matthew] This is someone
who lives and breathes grapes that become
this incredible
elaboration into champagne.
- Well, Ruinart is actually the first
officially established champagne house.
- It's one of the first or the first?
- The first established, yeah.
- [Meghan] First established!
- [Matthew] First established.
- [George] Oh, wow.
- Cheers to that!
- [All] Cheers!
- [Matthew] To Sonoma, and to you guys.
(glasses clinking)
- [George] And some champers.
- [Matthew] Champagne and Sonoma.
- Cheers, welcome back.
(intriguing violin music)
- [Frédéric] This area
was actually used in the Roman times
to extract
chalk.
And so there were, here,
some abandoned chalk pits,
very specific in the shape.
You know, they're underground.
The son of the creator, Claude Ruinart,
he decided to buy the property
because he thought that
this would be the most
amazing storage for his wines.
And he was right.
Champagne needs a lot
of space to be stored
because of the aging.
And it was an amazing,
ingenious, and innovative idea
at the time.
Our specialty is really Blanc de Blanc.
- [Matthew] The judge for
today's perfect bite challenge
is Greg Lambrecht, Founder of Coravin.
- [Meghan] We are drinking
the Blanc de Blanc today.
- That is sparkling.
- [Maryam] I'm so excited
to put food with this wine.
- It's really delicious.
- Slight salinity on it too.
- [Meghan] Same.
- It's like when you
come out of the ocean,
and you got that little bit of.
- [George] Right, right, exactly.
- Hey guys.
- [Meghan] Hello.
- [Maryam] Oh, hi.
- [George] Oh, hey.
- Nice to meet you all.
- [Meghan] Nice to meet you
- [George] Can we pour you
some champers?
- Darn tootin'.
- Yes.
- I'm Greg Lambrecht.
I'm the founder and inventor of Coravin.
- [Matthew] Yes.
- [Claire] Wow.
- [George] Amazing.
- [Greg] So I love wine.
(group laughing)
As we all do.
So I'm particularly happy to be here cause
we just finished developing
the first Coravin Sparkling system.
- [Matthew] No way.
- [George] Yeah!
- [Claire] Congratulations.
- [Matthew] Wow.
- [George] That's dope.
- I got to tell you,
- [George] That's so cool.
- the research was hard.
(group laughing)
I had to test every bottle,
make sure that it was just the
same as an unopened bottle.
- Tough job.
- Yeah, I know, really tough job.
I think actually today's challenge is
one of the most interesting
pairing challenges
that you could have.
This is an ingredient
that I fell in love with
in Japan.
I lived in Japan for a couple of years
and I remember the first
time that I was served this,
I think I almost gagged,
but by the time that I left,
I was obsessed with this stuff.
It's unique flavor, it's
incredible and unique texture,
make it one of the most
elegant and delicious things
that you can eat.
- I'm excited to see what it is.
- [Matthew] What could that be?
- What could that be?
So, today's challenge,
you guys are going to be using sea urchin.
Also known as uni.
(glasses clinking)
- [Maryam] We're using
it or we're eating it?
I'm confused.
- [Greg] Well, I'm gonna be eating it.
At least I get one.
- [Maryam] You're eating it!
- [Matthew] And you're not
allergic to uni, correct?
- No, thank goodness.
- [Matthew] Oh, thank goodness.
- [Greg] I'd be dead by now.
- [George] Is there anything that
you are allergic to?
- No. You know, luckily.
- Or don't like?
- Or don't like.
- [Greg] Don't like? Yes,
I'm not a big organ meat guy.
And, I guess the uni is an entire organ.
I don't know what it is.
- [Claire] It's a gonad.
- [Greg] Is it?
- Indeed.
- [Greg] Fantastic! It's a gonad!
- [George] Yes.
- I love this stuff. So, I can't wait
to see the creativity.
You have to make a perfect bite
with uni and five different
ingredients of your choice.
And then pair it with
this incredible Blanc de Blanc champagne.
The winner will receive one of the first
Coravin Sparkling systems.
- Oh!
- And two magnums of Ruinart champagne.
- Yo, let's go!
- Oh yeah!
- Party time.
- [Greg] Coravin Sparkling
works on magnums.
(glasses clinking)
And, of course, the winner of this
will also be the judge for the main dish.
I'm going to leave it
to you guys to decide
who it is that is going to go first.
- Okay.
- But I'm really looking forward-
- [Claire] Yeah, this will be fun.
- to trying these dishes.
- [George] Thank you so much.
- Cheers guys.
- [George] Cheers.
- [Meghan] Amazing, thank you.
- Cheers.
- Thank you.
- [Greg] I'll be the guy with the glass.
- [George] So, who's going first?
- I kind of want to go first.
- You wanna go first?
- Really?
- Okay.
- I want to get it out of the way.
- [Meghan] Okay.
- I'm feeling sea spay salty right now.
I wanna get in there.
- [George] I love it.
- [Claire] Oh, you're feeling salty?
- Sea spray salty.
- [Matthew] I'm in.
Let's go.
- Let's do it.
- Alright.
- [Claire] (mocking) Ooh, I'll go first.
(group laughing)
(thoughtful music)
- [Matthew] Ruinart is one of the most
incredible champagne houses,
if not the most incredible
champagne house.
To really be mindful of
what a beautiful thing we
have here in fresh uni,
that probably was in
the water two days ago,
I wanted to do something simple.
I'm going to do a brown butter with nori
to kind of layer the marine flavors.
I'm going to do some micro greens on top
and I'm going to finish it with
a little bit of blood orange juice.
Let's go.
(suspenseful music)
Well, working outside with
wind is a little tough
for nori, I'm learning.
That's okay.
(knife chopping)
(suspenseful music)
Get some butter going.
This will brown off relatively
quickly in this heat,
which is great.
Also going to toast off some baguette.
For those who have not
cooked outside, the wind,
it is a little challenging.
The plan here is to get
something with texture,
a little bit crispy.
And layer the flavor from
the nori brown butter
and really accentuate the
creaminess, the salinity.
Trimming off the crust of the bread,
just to get a really kind of perfect,
meaty kind of buttery bite for the center.
Try to cut these pretty thin.
This uni is so incredible.
Wow.
I'm going to actually taste a little bit.
Oh my goodness. Creamy, buttery.
Everything you want in
a beautiful bite of uni.
Wow.
(suspenseful music)
And I'm gonna finish up
with some micro greens,
a little bit of texture, a
little bit of crunch, again,
and some aromatic lift.
Let's go.
All right.
- So Matthew, what have you made here?
- I would love to present to you
a brown butter toast point
with the delicious uni
that was in the sea,
we think, a couple days ago.
The most important part would be to
pair with the Ruinart.
- There we go.
Bite first, Ruinart second.
- Right?
May you enjoy.
And I'm going to taste with
you so I know what I did.
So cheers.
- Cheers.
(spoons tapping)
(contemplative music)
Come out the way you want it?
- I'm more pleased than I expected to be.
- I'm glad you said that.
Brown butter and uni,
not something I would have expected.
But the umami in the umami,
that was delicious.
- Awesome. Excellent to hear.
Well you got four more to taste.
Good luck.
- Good luck.
- I appreciate that. Cheers.
- Cheers.
- And the wind kind of
threw me off a little bit,
but I was able to get,
basically, my plan executed.
And it actually tasted a
lot better than I expected.
So, game time, let's go.
Let's win.
(Claire sighing)
(contemplative music)
- All righty.
(dishes clatter)
Uni challenge.
I'm going to do something
to kind of play to
the French roots of our wine.
By doing something that's
a little French-inspired.
So I'm going to do off
scrambled eggs on toast
with Santa Barbara uni on top.
So again, just keeping it really simple.
You want the uni to shine.
You don't want to do
anything that's going to be
too crazy to overpower it.
So I'm going to start chopping
up these green onions.
Yeah. I just want to keep
this pretty clean and simple.
Like I always do.
Just to let that star ingredient shine.
I wish I could use a little bit of salt.
Just, I have limitations
with my ingredients,
so I won't be able to do that.
But fortunately uni does
already have a really nice,
bright salinity to it.
For anybody who hasn't had uni,
sea urchin, before,
it literally tastes like the ocean.
It's pretty amazing.
And then get some butter going
for the scrambled eggs, as well.
I'm really nervous about this heat.
We'll see.
Balls.
I'm going to have to
work pretty quickly here
to make sure that nothing burns.
Damn.
Y'all, this is really hot.
This is bad. These just
overcooked in two seconds.
I don't even know where to put, hmm.
(whispered) Fuck me.
(contemplative music)
Nice, nice.
These are not horrifically overcooked.
I don't love them, but,
balls, balls, balls.
You know what? The last
time I messed everything up,
I won. So,
maybe it'll work out for me again.
Now, ideally I would have
kind of mixed these in
with the eggs,
but they cooked so
quickly that I just simply
did not have time to do that.
Now we'll put on this uni.
It breaks apart pretty easily.
So I just want to do a nice,
ever so gently.
(playful music)
And there we have it.
Uni eggs on toast.
Mwah.
It's going to be quite a mouthful.
Hi, Greg,
- Hey, Claire.
- [Claire] Long time, no see.
- Indeed. What have you made here?
- [Claire] Oh, goodness.
- [Greg] Wow, look at that.
- [Claire] Let's top you off here.
And by top you off-
- I will never say no.
- give you a glass, right?
- Exactly.
- [Claire] I wanted to
honor the French roots
of the wine that we're drinking
with something a little
French, for the uni.
So I did eggs on toast.
- Ooh.
- With our gorgeous Santa Barbara uni.
This is certainly inspired from my days at
working at a French restaurant,
which had dishes that
were similar to this.
It was fun.
- Uni included?
- Uni included.
- Oh, wow.
- Uni on top of the eggs.
- All right, I'll go with this one.
- [Claire] Might be something
you just want to like-
- I'm going to give it a shot.
- take on the toast.
- I'm gonna see what happens.
I got a big mouth.
- [Claire] It's a big bite.
- You're lucky.
(Claire giggles)
- You could've had it
in two bites, I guess.
- Mhm.
- [Claire] The perfect two-bite.
(suspenseful music)
- I think you nailed the texture.
- Oh, good. Thank God.
- The eggs and the uni.
- Yeah.
- Those two textures.
- That creaminess.
- Yeah, they're just made for each other.
- Oh, good.
- I'm going to check one little thing.
- [Claire] Sure, sure, sure.
- And you used a nice big piece of uni.
And that uni is so spectacular.
- [Claire] It is really good.
(twinkly suspenseful music)
- Really interesting.
- Thanks.
- And, I mean that in
largely positive way.
- Thank you. In a largely positive way.
- I don't wanna give anything away.
- No, no, you can't.
Thank you so much, Greg.
- Very good. Cheers.
- [Claire] I appreciate it.
Cheers.
- Well done.
- [Claire] Ooh, that was a nice clink.
- Yeah.
- [Claire] I mean,
I'm by no means any kind of chef.
And I've gotten to the point where,
I think that's pretty close
to what I had in my mind,
didn't seem like I had
horrendous feedback.
So, yeah I'm happy with it. Yeah.
(gentle music)
- [George] So I am trying to find
some chives or any sort of green onion.
And I think I might have found some.
Let's see, I don't know.
Oh yeah. That tastes really good.
Tastes really good.
So we are here again. I am so excited.
I've only had uni once
and I've had it for
the second time, today,
maybe five minutes ago,
and it's exponentially better
than the first time I had it.
So, let's do it.
(thoughtful music)
What I have so far is, I have some chives,
of course I have the uni,
some butter, micro greens,
then I have thinly sliced some baguette,
and what I'm going to do is
I'm actually going to toast them off.
All right. This feels kind of hot.
So what I'm gonna do is I'm just going to
take it off the heat.
And I'm going to drink.
(thoughtful music)
(butter sizzling)
Oh, while that's cooking,
I'll chop up some chives
(knife chopping)
just to add on top,
add just a nice, fresh
green flavor, if you will.
And then what I'm going to
do is I'm going to introduce
just a touch of lemon.
Acid, of course, and
seafood go perfect together.
I am an acid freak. I love acidity.
Uni has such a pungent flavor.
You don't want to mask it.
You want the uni to kind
of really be able to shine.
So I'm not going to do too much, honestly.
I'm just going to let
the uni speak for itself.
And hopefully this
doesn't taste like trash.
(knife chopping)
That looks great.
Just to brighten it up.
I'm gonna add just a touch of butter
to add that extra nice
touch of creaminess.
Let the butters add in,
and I'm gonna add the uni on top,
ever so gently.
Green onion from the garden,
a little bit of lemon,
and I'm done. Cheers.
(suspenseful music)
- All right.
- Hey, George.
- How are you?
- I'm doing great.
- Good.
- How are you?
- I think you'd be a lot better with some
Ruinart in your glass.
- [Greg] I would, indeed.
When am I not?
- Right? Amen to that.
- [Greg] So what did you do here
with the uni on this stunning day?
- Yeah, it's gorgeous outside.
So I wanted to keep it really light.
Uni has a very pungent flavor
and it's very distinctive.
So I just wanted to let the uni shine.
So hopefully it pairs
well with the champers.
- I can't wait.
- Let's do it.
- Oh my God.
(George laughing)
- Do you mind if I try it with you?
Nice.
- Hm.
(suspenseful music)
It really does stand out.
Love the lemon.
- Right on.
- I'm wondering what
that's going to be like
with this, but,
it gives you a balance
to the umami of the uni,
and that crunch is great.
A little bit of butter,
a lot of butter.
It's never too much butter.
- Never too much butter.
- Cheers.
- Yeah.
And the lemon just goes perfectly
with the champagne.
It brings out a little
bit of the sweetness.
- Thank you, my friend.
I appreciate it.
- Good luck, George.
- Thank you so much.
- Yeah. Cheers.
- Cheers.
I honestly had no idea what
I was doing going into this,
but it tasted good. I feel good.
So, we'll see.
(contemplative music)
- [Meghan] I am going
to attempt to do a dish
that I had at the Morris,
made by my friend, Gavin,
who's the chef there.
And it was when Stephanie Mutz,
who's my favorite uni
diver from Santa Barbara,
did an uni drop there.
It's a dish that includes
a little bit of passion fruit,
some avocado.
I'm going to try both the
grapefruit and the blood orange
and decide which one I want to use.
And then my twist on it is that
I'm going to use some yuzu,
which is a citrus from Japan.
So we'll see how it goes.
When it comes to rankings,
I am currently at the bottom,
so, I do actually need to
put some points on the board.
Everybody else is tied, I'm in last place.
So this is kind of important.
I'm not sure what flavors
actually go with uni.
I usually have it plain.
Sometimes uni can be
metallic and this one isn't.
So I'm hoping that it pairs really well
with all of these flavors.
I'm just hoping nothing overpowers it.
That's my biggest fear.
(knife slicing)
Ooh, elegant.
Mm, that's delicious.
This avocado feels a little
hard, but it looks delicious.
Great.
Let's see. So I have 1, 2, 3 ingredients,
and I'm going to use this hot yuzu sauce,
and then I'm going to use yuzu juice.
So those will be five ingredients.
It smells awesome.
It's like orange, lemon, and
tangerine smell put together.
(suspenseful music)
All right. Let's see. Time for plating.
(whispered) I guess I'll do the spoon.
This has a kick to it so,
hopefully,
it doesn't blow his head off.
That's it, I think.
- [Crew Member] Time.
(suspenseful music)
As per usual, I barely made it,
but this time nothing went wrong.
So now let's see what Greg thinks.
Hi, Greg.
- [Greg] Hey, hey, how are you?
- Better, well, I'm not sure.
(both laughing)
Would you like some champagne?
- Confidence wins every time.
- [Meghan] Right?
- Yes, of course.
- [Meghan] I'm doing great.
- Thank you very much.
So, what were you able to
pull together just on time?
- [Meghan] I tried the uni
and it's, well, I'll let you try it, but,
well you've been trying it.
- Yeah.
- It's fairly floral.
- Oh, very good description of it.
- [Meghan] Floral, fruity.
- Yeah.
- [Meghan] Very sweet.
- Yeah.
- So, I thought it would go really well
with these ingredients, so.
- Very cool. I can't wait to try.
- Yes.
- And actually smell it.
- [Meghan] I hope that's a good thing.
- Mhm.
(suspenseful music)
Wow. That is unexpected.
- I also hope that's a good thing.
- I did not expect that.
Avocado is perfect.
- [Meghan] Yes.
- The avocado and the uni are
really texturally compatible.
Passion fruit, actually
crunching through it,
really nice.
The acidity of the blood orange,
and that spice at the end
really gives it an interesting combination
I would never have expected.
And I want to see how it pairs-
- Yes. Okay.
- with this,
while I still got some in my mouth.
Ooh. Setting that spice on fire,
as a carbonated beverage does.
I'm still processing.
(Meghan laughing)
But that you were able to do all of that
in as short a time as you did,
really remarkable. Good luck.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- I might need a therapy session.
(laughing) I'm not sure how it went.
(inspiring violin music)
- [Maryam] Earlier, Greg mentioned that
he used to live in Japan, so no pressure,
but I think I'm going to try
some kind of riff on a sushi roll.
So, to start, I have some carb-filler.
I don't have enough time to cook rice,
so I'm going to use potato chips.
I'm also going to layer with some caviar
and then a little bit
of ginger for balance.
So that's 1, 2, 3 ingredients.
I need my nori for the sushi
and I have a little bit of ponzu sauce
that I'm going to use to soften the nori,
to make a roll.
I say all of this,
but I don't really know
how I'm going to do it.
So I'm just going to start. Righto.
And I'm going to make a mess.
Home cooking with Mar.
This is just really fun, actually.
I kind of want, like, a
surprise from the crunch.
This is either going to go
really well or really poorly,
but I might be biting
off more than I can chew.
Roll.
I'm so clumsy,
I chose one of the hardest
things I could possibly be doing.
This is what's going to
take me the most time
for this challenge, but
it's going to be worth it.
Guess what guys? I'm
getting better every time.
But the wind is about
to blow away my seaweed.
I'm really nervous about these.
I kind of want to get them filled.
I'm also a little nervous that
they're going to come undone.
I'm fighting the wind, and I'm winning.
(suspenseful music)
Settle down.
Alright, well,
how the heck am I going to
make the uni look good now?
I don't know.
(playful music)
I'm kind of quickly marinating
the ginger and the ponzu
for just a little bit of nice vinegar.
To top it all off, a little bit of crunch.
I'm done.
- Hey, Maryam.
How're you?
- [Maryam] Hey Greg.
Good. How are you?
- I'm doing all right.
How'd this work out?
- I'm pretty excited actually.
- It looks beautiful.
- [Maryam] Thank you.
I was inspired by your time in Japan.
- Yeah?
- [Maryam] I hope you enjoy it.
I am a little nervous.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- What part makes you the most nervous.
- I think your palette.
- Oh, okay.
- You know, I just.
- Yeah.
- [Maryam] You know your stuff.
- Pretty wide-
- [Maryam] I'm really nervous.
- range of acceptability, except with uni.
So, okay, I can understand
being nervous but
I'm looking forward to trying this.
- Okay, bon apetit.
- All right, thank you.
- Yeah.
I can hear the crunch,
that makes me so happy.
- Surprisingly good.
You know what I love
about it, is the salt,
actually, from the potato chips,
and the crunch, I mean,
both of those are really good.
I don't get much of the ginger,
- [Maryam] Yeah.
- in the flavor.
- Okay.
- Most things bring out one
feature of the champagne.
This would bring out multiple.
- Great.
- Like the savoriness of the champagne.
Really, surprising. Really interesting.
And it does bring you back to Japan.
So thank you for that.
- Thank you. Cheers
- Good luck. Cheers.
- Okay.
He just knows his stuff,
it makes me nervous.
(lighthearted music)
- [George] Ooh.
- [Maryam] Come on, you got this.
- Amazing.
- Uni, uni, uni.
- Uni all day, how do you guys feel?
- [Claire] Pretty good.
- [Meghan] Can we have some of that?
I feel like we need some of that.
- [Claire] I'm just gonna.
- [Maryam] Yeah.
- Another perfect bite challenge, guys.
- Cheers to another
perfect bite challenge.
- Yes.
- [Meghan] Yes,
to another perfect bite challenge.
- [Matthew] Y'all got nine points.
- [Meghan] You're in first place.
- I'm in sole fourth place with six,
and sole fifth place with three.
- [Meghan] I'm the underdog. Yeah.
- [Matthew] Everyone
loves an underdog story.
- Who doesn't love an underdog?
- [Matthew] Let's see. I mean, hey.
- [George] Like a phoenix,
rising up from the ashes.
- [Matthew] It could change right now.
(group laughing)
Right now.
- [Greg] Hey guys.
- Hi, Greg.
- Hello, again.
- Give him some wine.
- Hi, Greg.
- Hey, how's everyone?
- Oh, I see, drinking already are you?
- [Claire] I'll just pour you some wine.
- Oh.
- [Claire] No pressure-
- Perfect.
- [Claire] on making the right decision.
- No impact whatsoever on
my judgment, thank you.
- Mm.
(Greg laughing)
(suspenseful music)
- [Greg] I mean, first of all, thank you
for making these really
incredible dishes for me.
Matt, that was awesome.
It was beautiful. The
plating was beautiful.
The brown butter was a little bit intense.
I liked the dish, but
it wasn't my favorite.
And then, bam, the champagne came through
and ooh. Yeah, it really
knocked my socks off.
Claire, that was a,
that was the biggest bite.
- I know, I'm so sorry.
- [Greg] I am known to have a big mouth.
I'm loud. I talk a lot.
- [Claire] Thank God.
- And, I ate it,
once I got it into my
mouth, that was great,
and I think the texture
of the egg and the uni
mashed really well together.
What was weird was when it
paired with the champagne,
it brought out sort of the bitter backbone
that sparkling wines can have sometimes.
And it was kind of a weird pairing for me.
George nailed the portion.
It was all perfectly sized.
I love the herbs and I
love the lemon on top.
So it was good on its own.
It was good with a champagne.
- Thank you so much.
- [Greg] Yeah, kudos on that.
Meg, that was crazy.
(group laughing)
I walked away thinking,
is it crazy wonderful or is it just crazy?
Cause there were so many flavors,
the yuzu and the sparkling together,
I was not expecting to work out.
And I thought, okay, well I love this,
but it's not going to work.
It worked really well
in a super interesting way.
Maryam, you brought me
right back to Japan.
I wish there had been more nori
and more of the potato chips,
more of that on the side,
cause I thought that just stood out
in such an interesting way.
The prizes today are two
magnums of the Ruinart.
As well as one of the very
first Coravin Sparkling systems.
- Oh!
- Yes!
- [Claire] Oh, cool.
- [Meghan] So amazing.
- [Greg] Right? Yeah.
(inspiring music)
So yeah. Tough decision.
Really tough decision.
(gentle music)
Second place,
did everything perfectly,
nearly impossible to say
that this was second,
but George, you crushed it.
That was really great.
- Thank you guys.
- [Greg] So simple. So direct.
- Thank you so much.
- [Greg] So perfectly paired.
First place took a big risk
and it wound up paying off.
Meg,
(group cheering)
that was awesome.
I wanted another one
and I didn't know why.
(glass clinking)
And I kept wanting more of them because,
here I was, "sparkling wine
doesn't go with spicy food."
Actually, it does.
And so for that, thank
you for teaching me that-
- Oh my goodness.
- [Greg] those two things
can happen, and happen well.
- Thank you.
- [Greg] That was really fantastic.
- [Maryam] Congratulations, Meg!
- Thanks!
I'd be interested to
see how he plays poker
cause he really freaked me out at the end.
Phew. That was very nerve wracking.
- [George] Amazing, so, congrats!
- [Maryam] Congratulations!
- She's back on the board.
- [Maryam] So bold.
- I was at the bottom. Now
I'm tied for middle place.
- [Claire] So now, George,
you have the distinct pleasure,
- Uh oh.
- [Claire] and honor of
choosing your teammate
for the next challenge.
- You look nervous. You okay?
- [Meghan] Yeah.
- I know, right? I know.
- What's going on?
- I'm fidgeting and whatnot.
This is going to be a
little controversial,
but I am going to go
with the homie, Maryam.
- [Maryam] Oh. You're coming with me.
- [George] Ya let's see.
- Okay.
- [George] Let's go.
- Let's go.
- Let's do it.
- Let's go get you refilled, let's go.
Do you need help carrying your stuff?
- I got you.
- I was feeling a little rough there,
not winning anything for a very long time,
so it's nice to win a challenge.
- [Claire] My bite was so ginormous.
(uplifting music)
- [Man] Champagne, ratatouille,
you don't think too much about that but,
it work very well together.
- What we're doing right now is
trying to put you in sole
possession of first place.
- I know. So, no pressure.
- Frenemies.
- Yeah, we are.
We're definitely frenemies, for sure.
- I want you to win cause I need to win.
- [Matthew] Aw.
- That smells nice.
- [Maryam] That looks amazing.
- [Meghan] Are you guys ready?
- [Maryam] No.
- [Matthew] Ready as we'll ever be.
- Yeah, no, I'm not actually.
- This is a really hard one.