Roast beef and Bordeaux

OK, this is one of the most classic wine pairings in the world but none the worse for that.

I was treated to lunch at The Wine Society on Friday following a tasting through some of their latest releases. For those of you who aren’t members and haven’t been there it occupies a rather unlovely '70s (I’d guess*) building on the outskirts of one of Britain’s unlovelier towns, Stevenage. In a private dining room which looks like - and probably is - a conference room they provided a totally resplendent roast dinner including perfectly cooked roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, gorgeously crisp roast potatoes and parsnips and carrots, beans and broccoli. (We Brits love a shedload of vegetables on the side)

With that they served two venerable reds - a 1998 Chateau La Mondotte Saint-Emilion and a Penfold’s 707 from the same vintage. Interestingly there was no qualitative difference between the two wines, except perhaps in stayability - the 707 dropped off slightly before the Mondotte which was still astonishingly fresh but both were mellow sweet and delicious. There was no obvious old word/new world contrast - it was more like comparing two wines from the right and left banks of Bordeaux.

Why does beef work so well? Well it’s deeply savoury, not too powerful - the vegetables are by and large neutral. It’s the perfect backdrop to a fine wine - As the Wine Society would know. Both had been decanted a couple of hours beforehand.

Incidentally The Wine Society, which I'd advise anyone to join, is not just about such rarified treasures. One of the best value wines I tasted on the day was their own 2015 Corbières at £7.75 which I encouraged the friends I was staying with to buy and which rapidly got demolished over the weekend. It’s fabulously vibrant blend of carignan and grenache that would make great everyday drinking. And obviously go well with beef too ….

*Turns out it's 'an unlovely 60s building, extended in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 100s' according to the Wine Soc's PR, Ewan. And it IS a private dining room not a conference room ;-)

Tandoori grouse and an Indian ‘SuperTuscan’

If you’d asked me a week ago whether I thought it was a good idea to cook grouse in a tandoor oven and then to serve it with a full-bodied red I’d have said no, and no. Which shows how you can continually be surprised by this food and wine pairing lark.

The dish was one we couldn’t resist trying at Trishna where Itamar Srulovich of Honey & Co and his wine buyer Dee and I had gone to hammer out the final details of our pop-up wine school this autumn. (Gratuitous plug. More details here)

Grouse is such an expensive delicacy it seems on the face of it mad to smother it in spices but the team at Trishna (who also own the much-fêted Gymkhana in Mayfair) know what they’re doing. In fact they have an awesome-looking game menu there that is matched with some really interesting wines.

The red - a 2010 blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet called Sette - is made by Fratelli, a collaboration between an Indian family-owned winery and Tuscan winemaker Piero Masi. I would have predicted that it would have been much too intense and full-bodied to accompany the grouse but how wrong I was. The rare meat and spices soften the tannins of the wine making it taste fabulously velvety.

Impressively Trishna pairs every dish on the menu with an accompanying wine. They recommend the 2013 Kloof Street Swartland Rouge from South African producer, Mullineux with the dish which would also be interesting.

Cheeseburgers and cabernet

Last night we went round to some new friends and they made the most delicious home-made burgers.

I’d emailed beforehand to ask what we’d be eating so we could bring along an appropriate wine and when I discovered it was burgers immediately thought of cabernet sauvignon.

We took two, a dark, damsony 2012 HIP Sagemoor Farmers Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from Hedges Family Estate in Washington State’s Columbia Valley and a 2008 Uitkyk Carlonet 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stellenbosch which was surprisingly brighter and juicier despite its greater age.

Apart from a well-judged amount of cheese the burgers were simply topped with tomatoes and pickled cucumber and no raw onion (a definite plus from the point of view of the wine). We thought the Uitkyk, which is pronounced 8-cake in case you’re wondering, was marginally the better match but they were both thoroughly enjoyable. Quality cab is as good a match with a burger as it is with a steak.

By the way the Uitkyk came from our personal wine stocks but you can buy the 2010 vintage from Fareham Cellar for £10.99. The HIP Cabernet was a sample from Roberson and costs £16.95

Photo © badmanproduction

Kibbeh and Domaine des Tourelles red

I agonised over whether this should be the standout pairing from this marvellous Lebanese meal at Arabica last week but it won by just a whisker.

The occasion was the launch of the Lebanese winery Domaine des Tourelles latest vintages including the first release of an upmarket chardonnay, Marquis de By. To be honest I was more excited by the latest vintages of their basic wines which are incredibly delicious, especially with eastern Mediterranean food.

The red, a 2011, is a warm, rustic typically Lebanese blend of syrah, cabernet sauvignon and cinsault. It’s not as extraordinary as the famous Chateau Musar but it has a similar character at half the price. Like Musar the estate is organic and uses natural yeasts but it’s not what is generally perceived as a natural wine.

It was brilliant with the slightly spicy kibbeh, a deep-fried ball of lamb and bulgur (cracked wheat) that can often be slightly dry but Arabica’s were full-flavoured and meaty, the best I can remember eating.

I also thought their basic white - an earthy slightly spicy blend of viognier, chardonnay and muscat was spot on with the starter dishes which included hummus, moutabel (smoked aubergine purée), muhammara (spiced roast peppers with toasted nuts - right), cacik (yoghurt and cucumber) and tabbouleh (parsley salad.) Chardonnay doesn’t taste like this anywhere else which is why the top end white needs time to come round.

Their more upmarket red, the 2009 Marquis de By, a smoother, more elegant blend of syrah and cabernet sauvignon, was also spot on with a dish of slow cooked shin of beef cooked in the basic red and served with nutty, smoky freekeh (green wheat).

You can buy the basic Tourelles range including a very attractive rosé from D. Byrne of Clitheroe for £8.59 a bottle. (They don't have an online shop but will send them mail order) allaboutwine.co.uk has the red at £8.89 a bottle and D & D Wines for £9.50. (See wine-searcher.com for other stockists.). Or drink it - and I’d strongly recommend this - at Arabica by whose food I was hugely impressed.

I was invited to the lunch by Domaine des Tourelles. You can read about my visit to the winery back in 2010 on my (sadly neglected) natural wine blog, Wine Naturally.