Warm fig and almond pudding with Château Coutet Barsac 1996

I think I’m a bit fixated with figs at the moment. Last week’s match of the week involved them and so does this week’s but it’s a totally different affair.

This is a dessert I had at Bordeaux Quay in Bristol on Friday on the eve of the annual Organic Food Festival. It was a bit like an Eve’s pudding - cooked fruit with a sponge topping - with a modern twist. The ‘sponge’ I think included semolina and I suspect the figs were cooked with red wine.

It was paired on the menu with a glass of Vidal Ice wine from Canada but our host, BQ's chef Barny Haughton, treated the table to a bottle of Château Coutet Barsac 1996 which was quite perfect, with that distinctive, sensual, slightly musky taste of noble rot and faint whiff of grilled hazelnuts. It would, of course, have tasted wonderful with all kinds of dishes - a classic apple or pear tart, poached peaches or nectarines, foie gras or Roquefort but this was a really glorious pairing.