Friday bits and bobs . . .

Wine for roast chicken
A couple of quirky stories have landed on my screen this week. First, news that a US-based firm called the Amazing Food Wine Company has launched a range of wines designed to match one specific dish. The range is called Wine that Loves and includes wines to match roast chicken, grilled salmon, grilled steak, pasta with tomato sauce and pizza, apparently five of the most popular dishes in American households.

I suppose if you knew nothing about wine then you might welcome such a specific recommendation but on the other hand you might be slightly bemused at discovering that what you needed was a ‘medium intensity, medium-acid, low tannin red with flavours that are in the bright, ripe red fruit family'. Oddly the tasting notes make no mention of the grape variety it’s based on. In fact in the tasting notes on the Wine That Loves Pasta with Tomato sauce it doesn’t even mention the colour. (From the shape and colour of the bottle, presumably red)

Tesco in the UK launched a similar range called Great With . . . (as in Great with Pasta/Great with Steak) which didn’t do too well, I suspect largely because although many people might welcome a steer as to which wine to put on the table they don’t particularly want their friends to know by the name of the wine that they haven’t a clue. Which is where this site comes in ;-)

Wine and Critters
Stranger still, though rather endearing if you’re dotty about man’s four-legged friends, is the news that a new site has launched pairing critters to wine. Critterwines.com allows you to search for a specific critter and find out which wineries feature your favourite animal, bird or insect on their labels. Surprisingly there are entries for spiders (the Black Widow winery) and toads (Toad Hollow) though disappointingly not yet for anacondas, camels or meal worm beetles which I find hard to believe is anyone’s favourite critter. I'm sure some winery will take it up.

Win £6000 worth of wine
A new wine club launches today offering the chance to win a ‘wine connoisseur package’ of fine wine, glassware and storage worth £6000 to anyone who signs up to their free mailing list. It’s being run by Dean Harper and Ed Wells of Harper Wells, a go-ahead new wine merchant on behalf of the magazine The Week.

They have some interesting wines - I’ve already bought some from them myself: ex Grange winemaker John Duval’s new wines, Entity and Plexus which were selling at a very good price just before Christmas. There’s also quite a bit of useful general wine information on the site including features by Jancis Robinson and yours truly. (No money involved, just reciprocal links!) Check out www.theweekwineclub.com