Pairings: Anderson Valley pinot perfect with creamy mushroom pasta

Our Wine of the Week, Bravium 2015 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($29), is a suave gem. It is beautifully balanced, with red and purple fruit that is at once generous and restrained. The fruit is a delicious component of the wine, but it isn’t a fruit bomb.

It is an elegant, gentlemanly wine, a 1950s film star in a black tuxedo or black taffeta frock. Gender is used to describe pinot noir perhaps more than any other wine, and it is typically called feminine. Yet this wine either transcends gender or expands its boundaries; it is an omnisexual wine, you could say, all intriguing and engaging sensuality.

On the palate, it is a tapestry of flavor, with enchanting spices stitched throughout its satin-on-velvet texture. The wine’s long finish all but vibrates with pretty bursts of black pepper.

Enjoy the wine with rare lamb and rare duck breast, seared tuna, grilled quail, beet risotto, mushroom risotto, winter squash, onion galettes, crab Louis, and such chicken dishes as Coq au Vin and chicken Dijonnaise. Come tomato season, it will be great with a BLT. Add some crumbled bacon to macaroni and cheese and you have a match that soars.

At this time of year when wild mushrooms are abundant, pair the wine with black chanterelles - also called black trumpets and trumpets of death, which refers to their color and not any potential toxins - and cream. It is a lush and luscious combination that is even better when you add a bit of fresh goat cheese.

Pasta with Black Chanterelles, Cream, & Chevre

Makes 2 servings

- Kosher salt

6 ounces dried pappardelle or fettuccine

2 tablespoons butter

1 small shallot, minced

21/2-3 ounces fresh black chanterelles

1/4 cup Madeira, such as Rainwater

3/4 cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons fresh chevre

- Black pepper in a mill

1 tablespoon minced fresh chives

Fill a medium saucepan half full with water, season generously with salt, and set over high heat. When the water reaches a rolling boil, add the pasta and stir gently until the water returns to a boil. Cook according to package directions until just tender. Drain but do not rinse the pasta.

When you put the water on to boil, put the butter in a medium sauté pan set over medium heat; when it is fully melted, add the shallot and sauté until soften, about 5 minutes; do not let it brown.

Add the mushrooms, turn to coat them with butter, and cook until they begin to limp. Season with salt, add the Madeira, cover the pan, and cook for 3 or 4 minutes, until the mushrooms are very tender. Uncover, increase the heat, and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the cream and the chevre, heat through, and stir gently.

Taste, correct for salt, add several turns of black pepper and stir in the chives.

Divide the drained pasta between two pasta bowls and top with the mushrooms and all their sauce. Add a few turns of black pepper and enjoy right away.

Michele Anna Jordan is the author of 24 books to date, including “The New Cook’s Tour of Sonoma.” Email her at michele@micheleannajordan.com.