Roast carrots with rocket pesto and a Catalan red

Choosing a wine to go with a number of widely differing dishes is always a challenge so I usually try to find a lightish wine that will rub along with both meat and vegetable dishes.

I also like to try go for something I haven’t tasted before in this case, at The Old Pharmacy, Bruton a 2020 Catalan red from Celler Frisach in Terra Alta called Abrunet Negre, which turned out to be a light juicy cherryish blend of garnacha (grenache) and carinena (carignan)

It actually went with pretty well everything but especially with this dish of roast carrots with rocket pesto and a confit egg yolk. I thought the egg might throw it but the sweetness of the carrot and the slight bitterness of the pesto were the more important elements of the dish. It was also great with a celestial dish of burrata, with truffle potato and crisps which I wish I hadn’t agreed to share.

You can buy the wine, which I’d classify as natural, for £14 from little wine who, it turns out, agree that it’s ‘oh-so-versatile: pair this easily with most dishes.” Or £14.40 from Uncharted Wines who also have a good range You can read about Celler Frisach who farm organically here.

And if you’re in Bruton, The Old Pharmacy, a wine bar and bistro which is run by chef Merlin Labron, who also owns the Michelin-starred Osip next door, is a joy. You can't book though so I'd try and arrive early or late

Coq au vin and Moulin-a-Vent

I’ve always loved those huge jars of cooked meals you can buy in France so was pretty excited when I was sent a jar of coq au vin, or rather Coq au Moulin-à-Vent by Chateau du Moulin-à-Vent the other day.

The dish was cooked by chef Frédéric Menager* who runs a restaurant in Burgundy called La Ferme de la Ruchotte and raises his own chickens.

Coq au vin is basically a Burgundian dish, made traditionally with Chambertin but Beaujolais, especially a serious Beaujolais like Chateau du Moulin-à-Vent’s, works equally well. Interestingly the Chateau had given him the 2000 vintage to cook it with, his preference being for older wines to give the dish added complexity. In fact the dish was not obviously ‘winey’ just deeply flavoured.

They also sent two different cuvées to pair with it, both 2018s, the Champ de Cour and the Les Vérillats. The Champ de Cour, the more savoury of the two, worked best I thought though the Vérillats was delicious too and both were great with the Vacherin cheese we had afterwards.

Unfortunately they’re not inexpensive. The Champ de Cour costs £204 for a case of six bottles from the Fine Wine Company and Stannary Wine apparently stocks the Vérillats but I can’t find it on their website.

*hilariously translated in the English version of the website as Fred Household

See also Four favourite wine matches for coq au vin

Stilton quiche and white burgundy

This week’s match of the week is the perfect illustration that you shouldn’t be led astray by your basic ingredient.

You drink port with Stilton, right? Not when it’s made into a quiche when the fact that it’s combined with onion, bacon and cream is more important when it comes to choosing a wine.

And the fact that you’re likely to be having it as a starter or main course rather than at the end of a meal.

I had a bottle of white burgundy open - Domaine Dampt Chevalier d’Eon Bourgogne Tonnerre 2019 - that I’d been tasting which went perfectly, echoing the creaminess of the filling. In fact it’s a good recommendation on its own account. The vineyards lie just outside the Chablis region which is reflected in the price (£15.49 or £13.89 if you mix 12 or more, from Averys and Laithwaites.

I made a similar quiche a few years back that I paired with a Fleurie and that went really well too.

Incidentally the quiche was part of my self-imposed ‘giveupstockingup’ challenge this month during which I’m trying to live off my fridge, freezer and storecupboard.

For other suggestions as to what to drink with white burgundy see here

Hot ham, kumquat relish and saperavi

Given the intense contagioiusness of Omicron it seemed a good idea to have a low key New Year’s Eve celebration this year which took the form of a really lovely kitchen supper with my friend Jenny Chandler and her family.

(Jenny wrote the great book Green Kids Cook: you can find her recipe for Smacked Cucumber and Crispy Green Salad with Zingy Ginger Dressing - which is EXACTLY what I feel like eating after 10 days of stuffing myself - here.)

On the night though she cooked a simple, delicious dish of ham poached in ginger ale with lentils (for luck in the new year), cavolo nero and a fresh zingy kumquat relish. I’d taken along two bottles to compare, a 2014 Cousino Macul Finis Terrae a mature blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah from Chile and, on impulse, a rich Georgian red, a 2018 Orgo Saperavi which went brilliantly well with the dish, especially the kumquat relish. Orangey flavours, it appears, need that kind of vibrant brambly fruit. Dolcetto, I suspect, would also work as would Bonarda.

Incidentally I’d tried the wine a year or so ago and found it slightly disappointing but it absolutely sang on the night.

Other good matches for Saperavi are slow cooked Wagyu beef and, you may be surprised to hear, roast grouse.

What else to match with Christmas ham