Matching Food & Wine | Articles

What to match with Christmas ham

Fiona Beckett — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:42:00 +0000

A fair bit gets written - including by yours truly - about pairing wine with turkey but what type of drinks go best with the Christmas ham?

When should you drink Yquem?

Fiona Beckett — Wed, 11 May 2011 12:03:00 +0100

Not a question I normally have to trouble my head about, I admit but which was prompted by an extraordinary wine dinner I went to last week at The Don in St Swithin's Lane.

Which wines to drink at Easter

Fiona Beckett — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:28:00 +0100

Easter seems to have become a wine-buying occasion second only to Christmas but what are the best type of bottles to buy at this time of year?

What to match with the world's best Bordeaux-style reds

Fiona Beckett — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:12:00 +0000

The Bordeaux wine region produces a multitude of top class red wines that these days tend to be blends of four main grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

Wine and food pairing at Gidleigh Park

Fiona Beckett — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 13:03:00 +0100

The long, winding drive that carries you to Gidleigh Park, hidden away in one of Dartmoor’s most out-of-the-way corners, serves almost as a metaphor for being carried back in time. As you sweep across the last hundred metres towards the country house hotel, its half-timbered arts & crafts exterior and its manicured grounds conjure up a bygone era.

When food and wine matching doesn't matter

Fiona Beckett — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:29:00 +0100

Although I make my living writing about how food can enhance wine - and vice versa - I would never want to be dogmatic about it and freely admit that there are occasions when it matters less than others.

Zagreb puts itself on the Gourmet Festival circuit

Fiona Beckett — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:36:00 +0000

Croatia is on a roll, wine-and-gourmet-wise, and the Zagreb Festival is the place for a rapid immersion course in Plavac Mali, Teran, Malvasia and the other regional grapes which go into some of the fearsomely alcoholic products now at large across the Adriatic.

What wine to drink with cuttlefish

Fiona Beckett — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:20:00 +0100

Cuttlefish is a pain to prepare as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall points out in the Guardian today but it is particularly delicious to eat. It’s often partnered with robust flavours so you need to think in terms of equally intense flavoured wines.

Wines to match Tom Kitchin's recipes

Fiona Beckett — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:41:00 +0100

The Telegraph featured three delicious-sounding recipes from Edinburgh chef Tom Kitchin's new book From Nature to Plate: Seasonal Recipes from The Kitchin this week, all of which pose something of a challenge for any accompanying wine. Here's what I would suggest

What to drink with Yotam Ottolenghi's pies

Fiona Beckett — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:52:00 +0100

Pies have all kinds of fillings and therefore all kinds of potential wine - and other drink - pairings. A general rule to bear in mind is that a pastry lid or case, particularly if hot, will increase the overall ‘weight’ of a dish, calling for a more intense wine than the same ingredients served on their own. Beer also works very well with pastry, as it does with other flour-based foods such as bread, pancakes and fritters.

Which wine pairs best with tomatoes?

Fiona Beckett — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:52:00 +0100

Tomatoes are generally held to be a problem for wine but as Jane McQuitty robustly puts it in The Times today - nonsense!

Wines to match Mark Hix's summer main courses and desserts

Fiona Beckett — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:38:00 +0100

The Independent runs an extract from Mark Hix British Seasonal Food for which he recently won a Guild of Food Writers award for Cookery Book of the Year. Here are my suggested pairings for the recipes - two of which include tricky-to-match blueberries

Wines to match summer recipes from two talented English women chefs

Fiona Beckett — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:59:00 +0100

There are some lovely recipes from up and coming women chefs in the Guardian’s summer food and drink special today together with wine pairings from the paper’s own rising star, wine writer Victoria Moore. Here are a few more suggestions of my own

Which wine to match with Dover sole?

Fiona Beckett — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:23:00 +0100

When you have a fish as fine as Dover sole you don’t want to mask its delicate sweet flavour in any way. Here are my suggestions for Gordon Ramsay’s recipes in the Times today.

Why Vinho Verde won't be the new Grüner Veltliner (or the new Albarino, come to that)

Fiona Beckett — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:27:00 +0100

Now that Grner Veltliner has become a fixture on fashionable restaurant wine lists (along with Albarino and Picpoul de Pinet) there are signs that sommeliers are looking for the Next Big Thing. And the most likely candidate looks to be Vinho Verde.

Wine matches for salads (with a twist)

Fiona Beckett — Sun, 24 May 2009 08:16:00 +0100

A lot of chefs - particularly male chefs - don't really get salads, making them either an afterthought or wildly, elaborately fussy. Mark Hix of the Independent is an exception - his are always simple but imaginative, reflecting the season perfectly. Here are my matches for his recipes in the Independent this weekend.

What to drink with peashoots?

Fiona Beckett — Sat, 16 May 2009 10:37:00 +0100

Peashoots exemplify the delicate flavours of spring as Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall persuasively argues in the Guardian today. How do you find a wine that won’t overwhelm them?

5 matches for seasonal recipes from UK food magazine cookery sites

Fiona Beckett — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:07:00 +0100

As I couldn’t find a sufficiently interesting selection of dishes to match in any one column in the papers this weekend I’ve turned to the food magazines' cookery sites for inspiration:

Which wines pair best with raw food?

Fiona Beckett — Sat, 02 May 2009 10:07:00 +0100

If anyone still needs convincing about the virtues of food and wine matching Mark Hix’s fresh seasonal recipes in The Independent today should convince them. Even the ‘drink what you like with the food you like’ brigade would have to admit that a voluptuous Meursault or oak-aged white Bordeaux would totally overwhelm the flavours of raw food.

Wines to pair with Amy Willcox's dinner party dishes

Fiona Beckett — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:41:00 +0100

Now that we're all tightening our belts dinner parties are back in fashion. There are some good tips for home entertaining in the Daily Telegraph today from Amy Willcock who made her name as an AGA cooking expert. Here are my wine suggestions to match her recipes: