Match of the week
West African pork and peanut stew with Heartland Dolcetto & Lagrein
Quite an adventurous pairing this week which you might have thought on paper wouldn’t come off. A hot, spicy pork and peanut stew and a glass of Ben Glaetzer’s bold, ripe 2010 Heartland Dolcetto & Lagrein from South Australia's Langhorne Creek.
Two things I think made it work so well - one being the peanut element which is quite wine-friendly (the stew also went with the remains of the younger Mount Pleasant Elizabeth semillon I highlighted last week which was still showing well) and the fact that at 5 years old the Dolcetto & Lagrein had mellowed out beautifully and brought a note of ripe sweetness to the party without too much intrusive oak. I bought it from my local deli, Chandos, by the way who had it as a bin end*. It’s a good time to pick up bargains like this.
The recipe is a cracking one from chef Richard Turner’s Hog and I'd urge you to make the amazing ‘Master pork broth’ on which it’s based. You can find another great recipe from the book - pot roast pork with fennel, olives and orange here.
* Kenny's Wine Store in northern Ireland also has the 2010 online for £13.49. Great Western Wine has the 2012 for £13.50. In Australia they're on to the 2013 vintage. For other stockists see wine-searcher.com
Carpaccio of venison with Mollydooker The Boxer shiraz
My match of the week is not in fact my match of the week which was some sublime sashimi and koshu at the Japanese embassy but as that pairing has featured before I’m going for my second best this week*.
It was which was one of a number of food and wine matches at the Australia Day tasting devised by chef Roger Jones who is spearheading the new Dine Australia campaign.
The dish was a carpaccio of venison (in other words raw meat) with foie gras toffee and parsnip and date mousse, designed as a pairing for shiraz. Unfortunately I didn’t spot the fact that it included foie gras which I don’t normally eat but the point was that the meat was rare and the accompaniments rich and sweet which is what you want with a full-bodied young shiraz.
The wine should have been Ben Glaetzer’s Bishop but I thought you were supposed to grab any shiraz you could lay your hands on (obviously not having the brightest of afternoons . .) and filled my glass with the 2012 Mollydooker The Boxer shiraz on a stand nearby which actually worked very well.
The other pairing of steak tartare macarons with salted caramel I wasn’t quite so keen on - just too sweet with an already super-ripe wine. So some sweetness but not too much with shiraz is the message.
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