Match of the week
My best wine (and other) pairings of 2017
Those of you who visit the site regularly will be aware I post a regular match of the week - the most interesting wine - or other drink - pairing I’ve come across in the past 7 days.
Well this is the pick of that selection - the most inspiring, intriguing and memorable pairings of 2017
Black coffee and cardamom buns
2017 was the year I really got into coffee, finally realising there was more to life than a double espresso. This pairing was from back in January when I was playing with my new Nespresso machine (before I got into my V60 dripper). Anyway - coffee and cake - tick. Coffee and cardamom buns (from Meera Sodha's Fresh India). Double tick. Coffee and cardamom rocks
Beetroot cured salmon with Furmint
Furmint has been my big wine discovery this year - as flexible with different kinds of food as Austria’s Grüner Veltlner. At Corrigans in Mayfair I drank it with a starter of beetroot-cured salmon and horseradish cream and it sailed through. Try it in 2018
I got a bit obsessed with these squid ink noodles at Taverna Uvedoble when I visited Malaga back in February. And was surprised to find how well it went with a Rueda, a crisp Spanish white wine I’ve never rated much in the past but which suddenly seems to have undergone a real improvement in quality. Loved it.
Yorkshire curd tart with builders tea ice cream and Shire Highland Black Tea from Malawi
I love finding good non-wine pairings and was really thrilled with this match at the (then) newly opened Lorne in Victoria - particularly with a builders tea ice-cream. Clever and witty.
March saw my first trip to India and a first real opportunity to try Indian wines with the local food. This marinated roast lamb dish which was served at the International Vine and Food Experience at the Taj Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad was in fact extraordinarily wine-friendly and the Grover Chêne - a blend of tempranillo and shiraz - a perfect match.
Salmon with shellfish sauce and aged semillon
It was then on to Australia’s Hunter Valley to immerse myself in aged semillon. I wouldn’t have necessarily thought a mature vintage would go with a comparatively rich dish like this but Keith Tulloch’s 2009 totally hit the spot.
Spiced whitebait with sriracha and Chinon rose
Back to the UK I dropped into one of my favourite Bristol restaurants Box E for a glass of rosé and they brought out a little snack of spiced whitebait with sriracha to go with it. Proof again that rosé can handle spicy food
Milk fed lamb with Bolgheri Coronato
I don’t look to Italy as often as I should do for great wines but this pairing with a 2011 Bolgheri Coronato at Marianne’s in Notting Hill was absolutely stellar. Can’t really go wrong with lamb, though.
Maple syrup square with Neige Noir Ambré
Surprisingly the standout pairing of my trip to Montreal back in June - I say surprising because there were so much other great food and wine but I loved this fabulous combination of Canada’s answer to sticky toffee pudding with Neige Noir Ambré, a delicious rich apple-based digestif at Le Filet.
We all know that Krug goes with luxury ingredients such as lobster and caviar but who knew it could be set off so perfectly by brioche? Well, the folks at Krug obviously did and shared the discovery with us at the Krug Festival preview back in June. Krug for breakfast? Don’t mind if I do.
Egg, chips, truffles and Cava gran reserva
One of three truffle pairings on this list, I realise (the others being black truffle pizza and Puligny Montrachet and Louis Roederer brut with a truffle cheese toastie just before Christmas at Fortnum & Mason) It was hard to choose between them but I think this combination of eggs, chips and truffles (huevos rotos) with Cava producer Juve & Camps ‘Gran’ gran reserva at Boca Grande in Barcelona back in July. (Get the message: truffles and vintage bubbly - and white burgundy - is a stellar pairing)
Oysters and dry German riesling
Riesling isn’t my automatic go to with oysters but I loved this combination with a 2014 Schloss Marienlay from Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt at Magpie in London back in August. The reason? The oysters were topped with diced apple and chicharron (pork crackling), both riesling-friendly ingredients.
Another wine highlight of the year was San Sebastian’s fresh spritzy Txacoli with the local anchovies (the best I’ve ever tasted). You can find them in bars all over the city - these were from Bar Antonio. A real terroir-based match.
Margaux and Turkish chicken with a walnut sauce
Margaux is a wine you’d more often think of pairing with lamb or beef than chicken but the intensely flavoured walnut sauce really kicked the match into touch. Mature Margaux though, note (2005)
Orange or skin contact wine has become increasingly popular and goes surprisingly well with strong flavours. We had this Ribolla at Peckham Bazaar last month and it went beautifully with all their eastern Mediterranean-inspired dishes, particularly the octopus. Expect to see more on wine lists in 2018.
Alcester gold cheese and honey with Sainte Croix du Mont
Red wine and port are still more associated with cheese than white or sweet wine but sometimes a dessert wine is the best match, especially if the cheese is served - as this washed rind one was at Wilsons in Bristol - with honey. (Truffle honey, note. Am clearly a bit obsessed with truffles)
And the final pairing of the year. Early landed cognac with Christmas pudding. Christmas pud and brandy is of course a tried and tested combination but this took it to another level.
So here’s to many great new pairings in 2018 - do subscribe to my newsletter if you want to hear about them as soon as they’re posted - and let me know of any that have wowed you. A very happy new year to you all!
Christmas pudding and cognac
Sometimes the simplest pairings elude you. If you flambé a Christmas pudding with brandy why on earth shouldn’t you drink brandy - or rather cognac - with it too?
Well it turns out from our Christmas dinner this year that you can - in this instance a very special Delamain early landed cognac from the 1996 vintage that was ‘landed’ in 1998 and bottled in 2015. It was more delicate, creamier and somehow lighter than a standard cognac so it didn’t seem at all odd to be drinking it with the Christmas pud (and a good slosh of cream)
One to bear in mind for next year . . .
*early landed means that the barrels in which the cognac is matured are shipped out of the Charente (the area of France where cognac is produced), in this case to England. The fact that they spend most of their life in a cooler climate is generally held to give them greater finesse. They are also comparatively rare these days which accounts for their high price (£120 from Berry Bros & Rudd)
What's the best wine to drink with Christmas pudding?
Christmas pudding image © Saramis at fotolia.com
Alcester Gold cheese and truffle honey and Sainte-Croix-du-Mont
Despite the fact that white and sweet wines go just as well with cheese as red wine the idea persists that red is the better pairing
Not when it’s served with honey it isn’t as this delicious match the other day at Wilsons restaurant in Bristol demonstrated.
The cheese was a Vacherin-type cheese called Alcester Gold which is apparently 'made in Hampshire and finished in Oxford'! It was served with truffle honey which both added sweetness and an exotic umami note to the combination
The wine was a sweet wine from one of the lesser known Bordeaux appellations Sainte-Croix-du-Mont: a 2016 from Chateau Le Pin Sacriste. I can’t find it online in the UK but suspect it will be available through RS Wines who supply Wilsons with their wine. If you can’t track it down you could easily substitute Sauternes - and Vacherin for the hard to find Alcester Gold - though I suspect the Sainte Croix is better value.
The combination of the two was really delicious - a reminder of how well sweet wine goes with washed rind as well as blue cheeses
Smoked cods roe and Metissage
This week’s pairing is as much about the wine as the dish though the two went exceptionally well together.
Métissage is an unusual white wine from the Entre-Deux-Mers region in Bordeaux that has to be labelled vin de France because it includes riesling as well as sauvignon and a hybrid variety with the unsexy name of CAL 6 04 that has been bred to be resistant to disease. The producer Jonathan Ducourt reckons that it will enable them to reduce the number of treatments they have to give the vines to combat odium or powdery mildew, an endemic problem in the relatively humid climate of the region. (There’s a fuller description here)
Despite also including sauvignon blanc it’s not a typical Bordeaux white by any means - it’s quite floral and aromatic and I wasn’t sure I liked it when I tasted it on its own. But in one of those amazing transformations that can happen when you partner wine with food it was really fabulous with a very pretty dish of whipped cods roe, shallot and chervil that we were served at the Michelin-starred Portland where we later had lunch.
Riesling of course would work well too - better than sauvignon blanc on its own I think, possibly also Sylvaner from Alsace.
The wine isn’t widely available yet though interestingly Vins de Bordeaux, who were hosting the event, had no compunction about showing it - maybe to flag up that there are regulations in the pipeline to allow 10% of other grape varieties in a blend which will be interesting…
I hadn’t been to Portland for a while and the lunch reminded me how very good the food is - as it is at their sister restaurant Clipstone. Both also have excellent wine lists and are well worth a visit in the new year if you’re looking for somewhere central to meet.
I ate at the restaurant as a guest of Vins de Bordeaux.
Louis Roederer Brut with a truffle cheese toastie
This match last week at 45 Jermyn St had EVERYTHING going for it starting with a decadent toasted cheese sandwich lavishly scattered with grated white truffle. What could be better? Well, actually a glass of very decent champagne (Louis Roederer Brut premier) with it - one of those matches made in heaven where the whole is better than the sum of the parts.
The entire experience which I suggest is the ultimate Christmas shopping treat isn’t cheap of course - £26.50 for the sandwich, another £12.50 for the fizz plus service which is likely to take you over the £50 mark for what is basically a snack. But frankly I’d rather pay that to sit in 45’s immensely glamorous dining room for a couple of hours than have a dull Christmas lunch elsewhere.
You could pull off a more affordable version at home by anointing the cheese in your toastie with a drizzle of truffle oil before you grill it and serving it with a glass of cut price fizz. (Sainsbury’s Blanc de Noirs is currently selling for £16 with a further 25% off if you buy 6 bottles in total - not all of which have to be champagne)
(45 Jermyn St is part of Fortnum & Mason btw so you have the added pleasure of looking at their fabulously glittery windows.)
Disclosure. As it happened I was treated but I went fully intending to pay.
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