'Meat fruit' with Pacherenc du Vic Bilh Larmes Célestes 2004

I know I’ve already raved about this stunning combination at Heston’s new restaurant Dinner but it's already a candidate for one of my top 10 pairings of 2011, never mind my match of the week.

The dish - a smooth foie gras-like chicken parfait inside a mandarin-shaped orange jelly - also bids to be a modern classic but it was the combination with the Pacherenc, a lesser known dessert wine from south-west France with a deep, apricotty flavour that was so pitch-perfect.

I visited Alain Brumont a couple of years ago when I was in the region and loved his wines.

The ‘Larmes Célestes’ is actually remarkably well-priced at £9.99 for 50cl at Stainton Wines. And Noel Young of Cambridge has it for £10.25. Obviously it would also go with foie gras and I reckon with blue cheese or a simple apple tart.

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Cecina, potato and kale soup and Chateau Montus Madiran

The idea of matching a soup with a full-bodied south-western French red wine might seem bizarre but it proved a surprisingly good pairing.

Admittedly it was a freezing cold, snowy day which put one in mind for both. I was already drinking the wine - Alain Brumont’s wonderfully dark rich damsony Château Montus 2004 at our local wine bar Flinty Red and couldn’t resist the idea of the soup of the day, which was cecina, potato and kale - a creative trans-Iberian spin on the Portuguese Caldo Verde. Cecina is a Spanish air-dried beef which has a savoury, salty tang which balanced out the soft potatoes, bitter greens and grassy olive oil.

It was more a stew than a soup which is why it worked with such a full-bodied wine. The Montus would also have been very good with cheese (especially sheeps' cheese) if I’d ordered some with it as you can see from my recent report from its stablemate Château Bouscassé.

Cheese and Château Bouscassé Vieilles Vignes 2000

As those of you who are familiar with this site will know I’ve got issues about drinking red wine with cheese. It may seem an obvious partnership but all too often it seems a warring one.

However yesterday our cheeseboard harmonised quite beautifully with the tail end of a bottle of Château Bouscassé Vieilles Vignes Madiran 2000 from Alain Brumont which had already taken some roast guinea fowl with spicy stuffing in its stride.

The cheese was admittedly chosen to inflict minimum damage on whatever red we decided to serve. The selection included a very young fresh Pecorino, a creamy Sharpham Brie, a mellow Devon Oke (less sharp than an artisanal cheddar) and an unusually creamy Picos Blue from Spain. (Note: no stinky cheeses!)

The wine was also mature and untypical in style for Madiran - beautifully supple rather than tannic and not over-extracted as many can be. (It’s tannin that tends to interfere with cheese matches).

You can buy current vintages from Fortnum & Mason, Noel Young and Hailsham Cellars for between £18.95 (Hailsham Cellars) and £29.95 a bottle (Fortnum’s) which seems a huge discrepancy. Happily we bought ours direct from the cellar a couple of years ago about which I now feel rather smug :)

Pear frangipane tart with Pacherenc du Vic Bilh

If you want to show off a fine dessert wine the ideal match is a simple French apple or pear tart, so there should be no surprise then at this pairing of a pear frangipane tart (pears with a spongey almond base) and a Pacherenc de Vic Bilh cuvée 'Octobre'.

The most interesting aspect of the partnership was the wine which was came from one of the region's most celebrated producers Alain Brumont. Pacherenc du Vic Bilh is a tiny appellation in the south-west of France which makes wines similar in style to a Jurançon, both ideal partners for the local foie gras. Despite coming from the 2000 vintage it was still full of life with luscious peachy fruit and perfectly balanced acidity.

The tart was neither home-made (very few French make tarts from scratch, taking the view that that's what boulangeries - and even supermarkets - are for) nor particularly distinguished but paired with the wine and accompanied by a good scoop of crème fraïche d'Isigny the combination took on an extra dimension. Which is what food and wine matching is all about.

Image © Silvano Rebai - Fotolia.com