Couscous and Languedoc rosé

It's funny how your attitude to food and wine matching changes when you visit a wine-producing area like the Languedoc which is where I've been for the past few days. You tend to drink the local wine because it's what the locals drink. It may not be the best match but it doesn't really matter, particularly at lunchtime when you want something light.

The other day we went for a couscous royale at a local café in Grau d'Agde which does it as the plat du jour every Thursday. It was a pretty substantial but not particularly spicy one including chicken, lamb and merguez sausages. We ordered a carafe of the local rosé which I guess was about 10-11% - not a serious wine obviously but it hit the spot.

I think a local Grenache or Cinsault-based red would have been marginally better but it would probably have been a degree or two more which would have made us feel more soporific. And as we're engaged in the sad and rather taxing task of clearing my late mother-in-law's house, there's no time for a siesta.

So sometimes the occasion is more important than the food. The wine was just fine - that's all you want at times.

Cozido and Cortello

We went to a Portuguese evening at a local cafe, Tart in Bristol last week, which does a monthly supper club. The food was great, especially a main course of cozido, a substantial, saffron-laced stew of chicken, pork, chorizo and beans that would have actually made a meal in itself.

With it we drank a Portuguese red of great personality called Cortello, a well-priced blend of Aragonez and Castelao, which comes from the Lisbon region. It was quite light but had plenty of structure to stand up to the stew. Interestingly I thought it went better than a fuller-bodied Dao of the same vintage. Saffron seems to have the effect of accentuating wood in a wine.

The wines were provided by a new Bristol wine merchant Grape & Grind run by Darren Willis who used to work at London wine merchant Philglas & Swiggott. It has a really interesting range.

Mezze and apple, mint and ginger lemonade

It must be the unseasonally hot weather but I've been drinking a lot of soft drinks lately. There seems to be much more choice on the market, especially more sophisticated drinks that are full of flavour but not too sweet. And which go well with food.

A good example is this combination of apple mint and ginger lemonade and mezze at the new branch of Yalla Yalla just off Oxford Street. Mint and apple is a really refreshing combination and went well with our diverse selection of mezze which included some very good, light felafel, tabbouleh (parsley salad), batata harra (a Lebanese take on patatas bravas) and - I think I remember rightly - Samboussek Lahmé, a delicious pizza-like dish of flatbread stuffed with spiced lamb.

I must confess to a feeling of slight regret to seeing Yalla Yalla roll out as a successful brand. The new branch, which is at the top of Winsley Street, just opposite the oddly named Pantheon branch of Marks and Spencer, isn't as cute and café-like as the original in Green's Court in Soho but you stand a much better chance of getting a seat and the food is still great.

They also have an interesting list of Lebanese wines should you feel like drinking something stronger.

Apple tatin and sparkling perry

The surprise match of the natural wine dinner I went to last week at Bar Battu was not a wine but a perry - 'sydriculteur' Eric Bordelet's sparkling Poire Granit.

You'd have thought that such a light drink (it's only 3.5%) wouldn't stand up to such a sweet dessert - especially one served with a Calvados-flavoured crème fraîche but in fact it made a deliciously refreshing counterpoint after quite a rich main course of duck.

Apparently Bordelet, who used to be sommelier to three Michelin starred chef, Alain Passard and rather quaintly describes himself as a pomologue and a poirologue, often serves it with pan-fried scallops according to stockist The Smiling Grape Company which sells it for £18.99 (so not cheap). They reckon it would also work well with goat’s cheese.