Foie gras and white Hermitage

Those of you who remember the post I wrote 10 years or so ago about why I wasn’t going to eat foie gras any more might reasonably ask how come it’s appearing in this match of the week?

I can’t really defend it other than to say I I never order it. If I’m asked before a meal if there’s anything I don’t eat I say foie gras but if it turns up on a menu at an event at which I’m being hosted like the Diner 4 Etoiles I attended at Tain l'Ermitage last week I take the rather weak-minded view that it would be rude to send it back. Which is how I’ve discovered what a great match it is with white Hermitage.

It also happened to be in the fabulous form of an artichoke and foie gras terrine, a signature dish from the two-Michelin-starred La Mère Brazier in Lyons. You’d think with the artichokes that might be tricky with wine but not at all. The richness of the Hermitage (I tried a couple with it including the 2013 Les Vins de Vienne La Bachole Blanc) offset it to perfection.

It bears out a theory I’ve held for a while that Sauternes, while a classic match, is not the perfect pairing for foie gras because it’s hard to kick off a meal with a sweet wine. A rich white like Hermitage, especially an older vintage is a better if somewhat more expensive option. The same would apply to a lush white burgundy or white Chateauneuf-du-Pape too.

I attended the dinner as a guest of Inter-Rhône.

Lobster and Condrieu

There were so many outstanding wines at Yapp Brothers 50th anniversary lunch that it’s tough to pick out just one but I’m going to go for this pairing of lobster with Condrieu.

I’ve mentioned that lobster works with viognier before but perhaps not given it enough prominence - or maybe never had it work quite so successfully.

Adam Handling at Frog has an unusual way of cooking lobster admittedly. It was poached (overnight I seem to hazily recall) in Wagyu beef fat which gave it a more deep savoury meaty (obviously) flavour than would normally be the case but if it had been simply grilled it would also have been a sensational match with the headily perfumed Condrieu. Which was a 2017 Coteau du Vernon, the top wine of Condrieu legend Georges Vernay which was served in magnum*: a suitably extravagant wine for such a luxury food. (Yapp also suggests quenelles by which I’m assuming the classic dish quenelles de brochet, sauce nantua - pike quenelles with crayfish sauce),

Not an everyday pairing, certainly, but a sensational special occasion one.

For my other favourite wine and lobster pairings click the link.

*standard bottles are still available from Yapp for £99 if you feel like splashing out!

I attended the lunch as a guest of Yapp Brothers.

Chocolate layer cake and single vineyard rioja

I’ve always been sceptical about the combination of red wine and chocolate but I came across one in Moscow last week that was simply sensational

I was in there to present a talk on food and wine pairing for the annual Spanish Wine Academy Rioja producer Ramon Bilbao organises for the sommeliers there. It was an impressive event with a high turnout - Russian sommeliers are really keen to learn more about wine.

In the evening we had a dinner at a very smart restaurant called Selection where the chef Ramon Bilbao had brought with them, Ignacio Echapresto of Venta Moncalvillo, cooked a five course meal which we matched with a range of contemporary Spanish wines. The red in question was the 2014 vintage of one of Ramon Bilbao’s top wines called Mirto, a beautifully poised, ripe modern rioja that you’d be more inclined to pair with a main course

The dessert, a light but intensely flavoured chocolate cake was sandwiched with ganache and (I think) a touch of red fruit jelly which chimed in beautifully with the Mirto. Generally a wine needs to be sweeter than a dessert to work but this was just perfect.

I still wouldn’t open a red of this quality just to drink with dessert but if you’re drinking a similar wine with the main course you could happily save a sip for a chocolate cake or even a square of dark chocolate.

Disclosure: I was paid by Ramon Bilbao to present the wines (but not asked to write about them.)

Asparagus and Rondo (English red)

A wine-loving friend and I weren’t sure what to order the other night at Native in Southwark. The menu was suitably springlike but having had a glass of white beforehand (at the excellent Bar Douro) we fancied a red

Scrolling down the list we spotted a bottle of Three Choirs 2017 Ravens Hill, a blend of Rondo, Regent and other red grape varieties from Gloucestershire. It was light (11.5%), crunchy and delicious - quite similar in style to a Loire red.

We asked for it to be chilled and it sailed through the meal, particularly with the dishes that contained asparagus and alexander, a crunchy, herby, slightly bitter plant, also called horse parsley. The wine didn’t overwhelm the delicate crab they served with it either and also went well with my slightly sweet main course of pork with apple béarnaise and root vegetables

I haven’t taken Three Choirs who have been on the English wine scene for a good while, particularly seriously in the past but they do an attractive and reasonably priced own label English white for the Wine Society for £8.25. The Ravens Hill is £13.99 from the Oxford Wine Company.

For other asparagus pairings see Top Wine Pairings with Asparagus