Stichelton and onion quiche and Fleurie

A simple lunch of quiche from leftovers thrown together from the fridge turned into a feast with a glass of Claire and Fabien Chasselay's Fleurie La Chapelle des Bois, an organic Beaujolais from the excellent 2009 vintage.

It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking Stilton or Stichelton (the unpasteurised version I used) is so strong that it needs a sweet wine or a fortified wine like port, but in a creamy quiche, offset by onions, it will easily work with a crisp white wine or a light red like this. You also always need to take any accompanying salad into account - ours was a simple green one with a classic vinaigrette which also pointed to a wine with some acidity. This delightfully fresh and fruity Beaujolais, which you can buy for £13.25 from Vintage Roots, hit the spot just perfectly.

It seems to me there's a bit of a Beaujolais revival at the moment - I'm sure I've seen more about Beaujolais Nouveau this year than I have for a long while. And it's still huge in Paris, even among the natural wine movement, as this evocative post from Bertrand Celce of Wine Terroirs testifies. But with the 2009 vintage still around and some charming 2010s I'd stick to the real McCoy.

Pork scratchings and Nyetimber 2006

This may be a mystifying pairing to those of you who don't live in the UK but bear with me ....

Pork scratchings are deep-fried pork skin - a popular pub snack but this is crackling with a difference - a gourmet nibble devised by three Old Etonians, food writer and TV personality Matthew Fort, food writer Tom Parker-Bowles who just happens to be the son of the Duchess of Cornwall, and Rupert Ponsonby, Gloucestershire farmer, landowner and immensely posh PR.

Together they have come up with Mr Trotter's Great British Pork Crackling - a product of outrageous fattiness, saltiness and pigginess that feels like picking at a particularly delicious pork belly joint.

What to drink with it? Well I had hoped a beer, specifically the rather elegant Deus a champagne-style Belgian beer made with champagne yeast. But, fine though it is, it was too sweet. The Duchy Originals Organic Golden Ale, made for Parker Bowles father-in-law, was a better match but seemed a tad pedestrian.

What really worked though - and how appropriate - was Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2006, one of Britain's best sparkling wines, indistinguishable, in the view of many, from top champagne.

It's a fine, full-bodied fizz but is elevated to another level if sipped with Mr Trotter's.

The kind of thing you want - and I'm sure you'll find in a few months' time - in room service in the poshest UK hotels.

Disclaimer: I should make it clear that I'm not entirely impartial in this matter. Matthew was at one stage my commissioning editor on The Guardian. And I'm rather fond of Rupe. But that doesn't detract from the fact that the match is a brilliant one.

Tuna tartare with wasabi aioli and Prager Grüner Veltliner

Not last week's match, actually but a great one from a couple of weeks' back just before I went to Paris and which got overlooked.

It was at Wolfgang Puck's new London steakhouse 'Cut' at 45 Park Lane. Yes, of course we drank a good wine with the steak (a 2005 Heitz Bella Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon) but you don't have to struggle too hard to find a full-bodied red that goes with rare beef. A challenging starter like the tuna tartar, wasabi aioli, ginger, togarashi crisps and tosa soy - a deliciously hot spicy mouthful of raw fish - is another matter.

Our engaging and feisty sommelier Vanessa Cinti suggested a richly-textured 2008 Prager Grüner Veltliner Hinter der Berg which rode to the rescue as it often does with this register of flavours, retaining its purity and minerality and providing a refreshing contrast to the dish. I think Grüner is probably my favourite default restaurant white at the moment.

The food at Cut is good and the Californian wine selection probably as comprehensive as anywhere in London but, as you'd expect from Park Lane, very, very expensive. Be warned!

I visited Cut as a guest of the restaurant.

Rabbit ballotine with Domaine Lucci Wildman Pinot Noir

If i'm asked what my favourite wine is I usually say I don't have one as there are always moments when I fancy one wine more than anything else. But Pinot Noir has to be up there, especially a glorious, hedonistic Pinot like this Domaine Lucci Wildman Pinot which is one of the most delicious wines I've tasted all year*.

It doesn't look much admittedly. It's a natural wine so it's unfiltered and slightly cloudy with a pale almost brownish tinge to it that almost looks as if someone's poured a dash of milky tea into the glass. But the aroma and flavour are just sensational - sweet, scented, heady, silky - everything you expect from great red burgundy.

The match was at a natural wine dinner at Bell's Diner which was presented by my husband, a great natural wine aficionado. He suggested rabbit as the ideal match to the chef Chris Wicks and he came up with this delicious ballotine, stuffed with walnut and ginger and served with carrot, wild mushrooms and a pure-tasting not excessively sweet plum pure which provided the link to the dish. (Apologies for the very blurry photo.)

Like duck, rabbit is a pretty sure-fire match for Pinot.

*available for £22.80 a bottle by the case (mixed or unmixed) from Les Caves de Pyrne and £30 from Bottle Apostle.