Oysters and Tasmanian fizz

I’m not a big fan of champagne with raw oysters. Most have a level of dosage (added sugar) that tastes even sweeter when you pair them with a briny mollusc but Tasmanian sparkling wine is different

First of all their oysters are amazing so I’ve been seizing every conceivable opportunity to eat them (every day of my visit so far!) And the sparkling wine is spectacular - with an incredible freshness due to the high level of acidity. When dosage levels are kept low it makes a perfect pairing with an unadorned oyster. No need for a squeeze of lemon - the wine does the job - and with so much more elegance.

The wine that kicked off this train of thought was the Moorilla Extra Brut methode traditionelle which you don’t seem to be able to find in the UK but the Josef Chromy which is currently on promotion at Marks & Spencer for £16.50 a bottle would do the trick

Oysters are however served in many different ways here in Tassie - often with Asian style dressings and here another wine comes into play - the local Tasmanian rieslings which have a lovely streak of lime and green apple acidity to them. That would be a treat too.

Here are some other good matches with oysters

Best matches with oysters

Salmon with shellfish sauce and aged semillon

Last week I was in Australia’s beautiful Hunter Valley enjoying their two great specialities semillon and shiraz.

The semillon in particular is quite unique - crisp as a sauvignon blanc or riesling when it’s young, rich as a chardonnay as it ages. At Keith Tulloch’s winery restaurant Muse Kitchen we had his 2009 Museum Release Semillon with a plate of seared salmon with a creamy shellfish sauce which it matched perfectly despite its richness as Hunter Valley semillon always retains its acidity. Although it was eight years old it still had plenty of life in it.

Older vintages of semillon like this are hard to track down in the UK which makes it worth buying it young and tucking it away. In Australia you can buy the 2009 vintage direct from Keith Tulloch for 60 Australian dollars which is roughly equivalent to £36 a bottle

For more semillon pairing ideas read this post

The best food matches for semillon and semillon-sauvignon blends

Raan and Grover Chêne

I’ve been thinking a fair bit about red wine and Indian food lately - of which more in due course - but wanted to flag up one pairing from my trip to India last week which definitely worked.

The dish was a raan or marinated roast lamb which was served at the International Vine and Food Experience I attended at the Taj Falaknuma Palace hotel in Hyderabad and the wine Indian winery Grover’s Chêne, a blend of tempranillo and shiraz. Most of Grover’s reds are made in Bangalore though they have some vineyards in Nashik which is where we had met up with them earlier in the week.

You might be surprised to discover that India produces full-bodied reds but a number of wineries do as I revealed in my Guardian column last year (and will write about again in due course)

Incidentally they served it cellar cool which was obviously welcome in the considerable heat of Hyderabad - and not a bad idea elsewhere.

You could of course serve other reds with raan such as shiraz and tempranillo from other countries including a young rioja or a malbec. Even a cabernet which I feel sometimes struggles with spicy food would work perfectly well.

If you want to give raan a try yourself here’s a delicious recipe from Meera Sodha’s Made in India (Photograph © David Loftus)

Roast venison with Chateau Talbot 1982

I was lucky enough to dine in a Cambridge college, Peterhouse, last week and even more fortunate to drink a 1982 Chateau Talbot.

Oxbridge colleges have famously well-stocked cellars so this is the kind of wine they have ready access to - something that can’t be said of most wine writers - or certainly not this one. (This is one of the relatively few opportunities I’ve had to drink a Bordeaux of this age*)

Although their catering arrangements don’t tend to be quite so impressive the very traditional fare they serve actually suits older wines perfectly and the main course of rare - and impressively tender - venison, a small amount of not overly rich red wine sauce, gratin dauphinoise (no or very little cheese) and broccoli and cauliflower (neutral) couldn’t have been a better foil for the wine which was still miraculously fresh but with a beautifully soft, velvety texture.

We also had a chance to taste the 2004 Cain Five which was also quite mesmeric but not until after the meal. That would have been equally delicious (and is still available from Justerini & Brooks)

It underlines that it’s well worth keeping things classic when you have the chance to drink a great bottle.

*I do rather like the idea however of buying it by the half bottle which you can do from Lea & Sandeman at the moment for £25.75 a single bottle or £23.75 per bottle if you buy a case. (For the 2012)

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Excuse dark, fuzzy photos. The dining room was atmospherically candlelit. No concessions to instagrammers ;-)