Goats' cheese and Sauvignon Blanc

Despite the freak flurries of snow and sub arctic temperatures last week spring has officially arrived and with it longer daylight hours and a switch to lighter eating. For me there’s no combination that reflects the season better than goats' cheese and Sauvignon Blanc, one of the great classic food and wine pairings.

Does it matter which goats' cheese and which Sauvignon and whether you introduce any other ingredients to the plate? Not a lot, if truth be told. You might argue that it’s impossible to beat a Sancerre paired with a Crottin de Chavignol from the same area but I’ve had equal pleasure from a young moussey goats' cheese with an unoaked New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (the match is certainly better without oak which diminishes the Sauvignon’s acidity and minerality)

If the cheese is grilled or part of a salad that will work too, especially if the salad includes soft herbs such as tarragon, coriander or dill. Likewise, asparagus, which has a similar flavour profile to Sauvignon Blanc will enhance the match. You can even add contrasting ingredients such as roasted grilled peppers and the pairing will work. Take full advantage of it!

Pickled herrings with lager and akvavit

If you're not into herrings this match might not seem desperately appealing but I promise you it’s an outstanding combination. It’s prompted by my recent visit to Copenhagen where the Danes eat herrings on an almost daily basis as part of their smørrebrød (selection of open sandwiches).

The herrings are prepared every which way but a favourite cure is a slightly sweet pickle which combines sugar, salt and spice and a herby note from the omnipresent dill. It would be challenging for any wine but with a light lager and an accompanying shot of frozen akvavit, a Scandanavian grain-based spirit, lightly wood-aged and aromatised with spices such as dill and caraway, it’s quite, quite perfect.

The aquavit we were served was the locally made Aalborg Krone, well worth picking up in duty free if you’re visiting Denmark, as is the Aalborg Jubilaeums. It’s also outstandingly good with gravlax (dill-cured salmon) and other strongly flavoured dishes like smoked eel.

Ham and Barossa Semillon

Thos of you of a certain age may remember that great ‘70s favourite ham and pineapple which conisisted of a large limp gammon steak, curling at the edges and a couple of fried pineapple rings. From a tin. There was one thing that was good about the dish though and that is that ham and pineapple are great together, something we’ve rather forgotten in these more sophisticated times.

It works too with Barossa Semillon which has a powerful pineapple flavour of its own. I discovered a 10 year old bottle, an inexpensive Peter Lehmann, at the weekend when I was clearing out the wine store and was amazed to find just how lush and rich it still was. I knew Semillon aged but it’s Hunter Valley Semillon that has the reputation for longevity not the Barossa and that matures in quite a different way - more like a Riesling.

If you want to repeat the experience you obviously don’t have to drink such a venerable bottle - a rich young Barossa Semillon will do nicely. Keep the ham - hot or cold - relatively plain like a good old fashioned glazed joint of gammon and serve in thick chunky slices. Resist the temptation to put tinned pineapple slices with it or they’ll knock out the pineapple flavours in the wine. Not that you would anyway . . .

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Roast lamb with a Douro red

Yesterday we had the family round for lunch and served a 2002 Douro red from Portugal with the main course of spice-crusted roast lamb with garlic and rosemary, roast potatoes (my youngest son managed to put away 15 but remains, annoyingly, as skinny as a rake) and in-season purple sprouting broccoli.

Now I know there are loads of reds which would have paired with that dish (Cabernet Sauvignon being an obvious contender) but the wine, a single vineyard Quinta do Vale Dona Maria made by Christiano van Zeller which came from English wine merchant Tanners was particularly delicious. It was soft and supple with rich, ripe bramble fruit: a sweet contrast to the cumin-dominated spicing and the slight bitterness of the greens or PSB as they now call it in the trade.

Sometimes it’s good to serve something that makes everyone sit up. My eldest son and his girlfriend are both doing wine qualifications so it was a chance for them to try a wine they hadn’t come across before.

For dessert we had fresh apricot pancakes I was testing for a book which I strongly recommend once they come into season. The apricot filling was laced with a gorgeous apricot liqueur made by the French firm Gabriel Boudier which really brought out the flavour of the fruit. (You can find it in Waitrose in the UK). It was so good I added an extra splash as I served them - plus a scoop of vanilla ice cream! (Well, it was the weekend . . . )

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