Little Beauty Marlborough riesling and Indian or Pakistani food

I’ve always thought of riesling as a better match for the fresh flavours of south-east Asian-inspired food than curry but a visit to the Lahore Kebab House proved otherwise this week.

It was an evening off for those who were juding the Decanter World Wine Awards and a first visit for me to this venerable East London institution which features spicy chops as its main draw.

It was a BYO evening which given the clientele that night was more than usually interesting but I was really pleased to find that the crisp, limey 2010 Little Beauty Marlborough riesling I’d taken along was absolutely spot on with the range of sometimes quite fiery dishes that turned up at the table - including the chops, kebabs, chicken tikka, samosas, onion bhajis and a selection of curries. If you wanted a truly refreshing wine to drink through an Indian - or in this case Pakistani - meal it would do the job perfectly.

I was sent the wine by an online company called 31dover.com which sells it online for £15.45. Not cheap but totally worth it. (It apparently won an International Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2013 for Best in Show Riesling under £15.)

The team at 31Dover adds that it’s “sensational matched with honey glazed seared scallops with a hint of chilli, or sashimi with soya and pickled ginger.” I believe them.

Navarin of lamb and 2002 Chateau des Estanilles Faugères

Last week we were down at our house in Languedoc mainly cooking from home* and raiding the cellar for wines we thought needed drinking up - at least that was our excuse!

One foray unearthed this 2002 vintage of Chateau des Estanilles Faugères a wine we used to buy regularly from its previous proprietor Michel Louison who is now making wine at Domaine Lamartine near Limoux. It’s a full-bodied syrah but age has mellowed it and made it silky and delicate - the ideal match for a simple spring navarin of lamb, carrots and turnips made with white wine rather than red.

I wouldn’t have drunk the same wine with it while young - it would have been too tannic and powerful for the dish but this grand old wine matched it perfectly. You could also drink a typical Languedoc white - we tried a glass of a Chateau Paul Mas 2014 Belluguette Coteau du Languedoc** we’d been tasting with the leftovers and that worked very well too.

* Though we did have a very good meal at the Auberge de Combes. See my review here.

** a blend of Grenache Blanc, Vermentino, Roussanne and Viognier

British pepper salami and Morgon

Usually this feature focusses on less familiar wine pairings but sometimes you can’t beat a tried and trusted combination.

This was at a British charcuterie and wine event organised by Cannon & Cannon and wine supplier Jascots (who are, by the way, a sponsor of this site and asked me along but didn’t ask me to write about it).

The wine - a really delicous 2010 Morgon Côte de Py Beaujolais from Grange-Cochard - went pretty well with all the salamis, in fact, but I particularly liked it with two that were made in London: an excellent fennel and pepper salami from former chef Hugo Jeffreys of Blackhand Foods in Hackney and a finely sliced saucisson sec from Cobble Lane Cured in Islington.

It also goes to show that just as we compete with the French on the cheese front these days we can also make excellent charcuterie - or 'British cured and fermented meats' as we must apparently call them. Whatever. They’re great and so is the Morgon match.

Asparagus with poached egg, watercress sabayon and Chateau Doisy-Daene Sec

Asparagus and fine white Bordeaux sounds a bit of a risky wine match but the way the dish was prepared made it a standout pairing.

Mind you, if anyone could get it right it should be wine auction house Bonhams in London who featured it on the menu of their first weekly supper club last week.

The dish included a Burford Brown poached egg and watercress sabayon which both added texture and richness to the dish and there was also some confit lemon which helped build a bridge to the still relatively young, but already lush wine.

Two of the other pairings at the dinner were spot on too: cod tempura and oyster mayonnaise with a crisp 2013 Vermentino di Bolgheri and gariguette strawberries with a delicate sweet red Aleatico Sovana Superiore, also from Tuscany. I was less keen on the powerful Alvaro Palacios Priorat that had been paired with the delicate main course lamb dish but that probably says as much about my personal taste as the match itself.

As I said Bonhams has started this weekly dinner which is a well priced £45 + another £35 for wine pairings which is good value for the central London location (just off Bond Street), the standard of food and the quality of the wines. The restaurant functions as a wine bar during the day so you can dip into their list at other times. Opening hours on their website.

For more asparagus matches see Top Wine Pairings with Asparagus

I ate at Bonhams as a guest of the restaurant.