Cod pot au feu and Beaujolais

Beaujolais cuisine is typical old-school bistro food - so it was no surprise to find on my recent trip that it sailed through the charcuterie, andouillette and oeufs en meurette. But I had rarely had it with fish so I found this pairing with a cod pot-au-feu at Georges Blanc’s brasserie Le Rouge et Le Blanc at the Hôtel lea Maritonnes particularly interesting.

The cod, which fell apart in perfect pearly flakes, was cooked in a broth of leeks and carrots so it was basically a light dish that paired really well with the Domaine de la Pirolette Saint-Amour we were drinking, particularly the 2018 from the Le Carjot lieu-dit (vineyard). It would have gone well with a Fleurie or one of the lighter 2021s too. (2020 was a particular full, ripe vintage and might have overwhelmed the dish, especially from an appellation like Morgon)

Another really good - and unexpected - pairing was at a nice little wine bar called Au 91 in Villefranche sur Saône where I had a simple starter of hummus with a green salad garnished with pomegranate seeds. (Uncharacteristically restrained but I’d just had a charcuterie tasting). It was the pop of pomegranate that made the match with a Chateau Bellevue Fleurie sing.

For a full list of my Beaujolais pairings see here

Pork and pistachio terrine and old vine Brouilly

This isn’t the first time I’ve remarked how well Beaujolais pairs with a terrine but sometimes it’s worth being reminded what really, really works. And both were particularly good in this case - as indeed you’d expect at one of London’s best wine bars, Noble Rot.

The wine was a 2015 Domaine de la Grand’Cour Brouilly Cuvée Vieilles Vignes from Jean Louis Dutraive that reminded us just how great gamay (the grape from which Beaujolais is produced) can be. Beautiful, pure - but not in the least bubblegummy - fruit, quaffable but elegant and well structured despite quite a hefty level (for Beaujolais) of alcohol (14.5%)

And the terrine was the sort of rustic recipe you used to routinely find in French bistros but now all too seldom do. The only aspect of the presentation I’d quibble with was that it came with a generous dollop of onion marmalade which would have taken the edge off any accompanying wine and did no favours to the Brouilly. But 'chapeau' for the properly good sourdough toast.

For other suggestions see

10 good wine pairings with paté

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.

Stichelton and onion quiche and Fleurie

A simple lunch of quiche from leftovers thrown together from the fridge turned into a feast with a glass of Claire and Fabien Chasselay's Fleurie La Chapelle des Bois, an organic Beaujolais from the excellent 2009 vintage.

It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking Stilton or Stichelton (the unpasteurised version I used) is so strong that it needs a sweet wine or a fortified wine like port, but in a creamy quiche, offset by onions, it will easily work with a crisp white wine or a light red like this. You also always need to take any accompanying salad into account - ours was a simple green one with a classic vinaigrette which also pointed to a wine with some acidity. This delightfully fresh and fruity Beaujolais, which you can buy for £13.25 from Vintage Roots, hit the spot just perfectly.

It seems to me there's a bit of a Beaujolais revival at the moment - I'm sure I've seen more about Beaujolais Nouveau this year than I have for a long while. And it's still huge in Paris, even among the natural wine movement, as this evocative post from Bertrand Celce of Wine Terroirs testifies. But with the 2009 vintage still around and some charming 2010s I'd stick to the real McCoy.