It often surprises me how little attention wineries pay to showing off their wine to best effect but you couldn’t ask for a better set of matches than the ones I experienced earlier this week at the Chilean winery Casas del Bosque

Like many others the winery has its own restaurant, Tanino, but what sets it apart is that the winemaker and chef work closely together on the pairings. The practice was initiated by former winemaker Vincente Johnson, now at Quintay but has been taken over most ably by their new winemaker Grant Phelps, pictured right with the chef Álvaro Larraguibel.

Scallop ceviche and Sauvignon Blanc is a tried and tested combination but is none the worse for that, particularly when executed to this standard. I wasn’t bowled over by the Casas del Bosque Sauvignon range tasted on its own but the 2009 Pequenas Producciones (loosely translated as limited edition*) was great with this zingy, citrussy dish. Phelps showed me some samples of the 2010 Sauvignons he’s making this year which look as if they will take the wines to another level.

The next course was quail with oyster mushrooms and Pinot Noir - again a classic - but why mess with something that works so well? I loved the Casas del Bosque Pinot range, which were among the best I tasted in Chile.

I had assumed that was a main course but on came a clever plate of two different elements - a lamb chop with peppers designed to go with their Carmenère Reserva (it was the peppers rather than the lamb that made this such a particularly good match) and a steak with sweet mashed potato which went perfectly with the 2007 Estate Selection, a dark, exotic blend of Syrah, Merlot and Pinot Noir.  Flavoured mash is very popular in Chile and provided me with some good ideas for matching - see some of the other standout pairings from the Chilean trip over the next week or so.

Finally there was an elaborate dessert of goats cheese and passion fruit mousse with a mango sauce, fresh papaya and a manjar (dulce de leche) semi-freddo (below) which we didn’t get round to trying with the winery’s late harvest Sauvignon Blanc but which I’m sure would have worked well - as it would with a Bordeaux-style sweet wine like a Saussignac or a late harvest riesling.

Although my menu was tailormade, the winery restaurant, Tanino, regularly offers a range of dishes to match their wines. The Sauvignon Blanc board, for example, includes baked mozzarella and chive rolls in phyllo dough, Breca fish (not sure what that is) with rocotto pepper, lemon and red onion dressing, Kingclip crisps with avocado salsa and salmon rolled in green herbs. You can also order individual dishes such as roast duck with grilled pears, black plum reduction and a ‘mini-antipasto’ which is paired with Pinot Noir.

It really isn’t rocket science to create pairings like this - it just needs a chef that understands wine, a winemaker that’s interested in food and a winery that encourages them to work together. But as you can see from the photos, it was exceptionally well done.

I dined at Casas del Bosque as a guest of the winery. My trip was arranged by Wines of Chile.