Match of the week
Artichoke barigoule and grüner veltliner
So maybe Austria’s signature grape grüner veltliner is the perfect pairing for tricky-to-match artichokes?
I’ve suggested it as a good option before in this post on matching wine and artichokes and last week’s experience of trying the two together at Bristol restaurant No Man’s Grace has confirmed my view.
The occasion was the fourth dinner in a series organised by local cookbook club Eat Your Words where Bristol chefs cook a menu from one of their favourite cookbooks. John Watson of No Man’s Grace was ambitiously tackling The French Laundry Cookbook and opted to serve the very French barigoule - a dish of braised artichokes with onions, carrots and fennel - with a crisp 2014 Austrian grüner veltliner from Hopler (available at James Nicholson) which really stood up to it surprisingly well.
The restaurant is also noted for its desserts and served two as part of the dinner: a strawberry shortbread with a 2011 I Capetelli, a late harvest Garganega from Soave producer Anselmi (winedirect.co.uk) and a divinely light lemon sabayon pine nut tart with honeyed mascarpone with a 2013 Late Harvest Tokaji Katinka from Patricius (Hic wine merchants). Both were great matches but I actually preferred the fresher, sharper Capetelli with the tart.
Potato spread, potato bread and weissburgunder
This may seem a bit of a random pairing but it was the ‘amuse’ at the start of a really delicious meal at Schloss Ottersbach during our trip to Austria’s Südsteiermark (Styria) region last week.
It was held at Schloss Ottersbach, because of the numbers involved (over 50 of us) but cooked by chef Tom Riederer of Vicarage St Andra.
But surely potato spread on bread is a bit of a carb overload? Well maybe but it was utterly delicious: a moist light rye (I’d guess) bread with chunks of potato in it and a light creamy potato purée to spread on it which offset the weissburgunder (pinot blanc) perfectly. It also went well with morillon (the local name for chardonnay)
There was no particular wine that matched better than others - we had access to a whole line up of different wines to try - but I particularly liked the Felberjörgl Ried Kreuzegg 2013 and the rich Gross Nussberg GSTK 2011 which was served in magnum and was also brilliant with a delicious slow-cooked egg served with pumpkin seed oil foam. (And I say this as someone who doesn’t normally like slow-cooked eggs)
Velouté of asparagus with Grüner Veltliner
It's been a while since I've posted about soup - it's notoriously tricky to match with wine - but this weekend I came across a great combination at a new restaurant in Bath, the oddly named Menu Gordon Jones*
It was a classic velouté - silky smooth and creamy with the delicate flavour of the new season's English asparagus.
It would have been easy to overwhelm it with a fruity white like a Sauvignon Blanc but the 2010 Meinklang Burgenland Grüner Veltliner we'd ordered was perfect crisp counterfoil.
It also paired brilliantly well with a cocotte of sole, red mullet, mussels and spring vegetables that was served as the main course.
The more I drink Grüner Veltliner, the more I think it's one of the most versatile restaurant wines around. And this one was only 11.5% which makes it the perfect lunchtime option.
*A curious place. The chef can certainly cook but I couldn't wholeheartedly recommend it. See my review here.
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