Braised short ribs in red wine with Les Clos Perdus Corbières

The weather has been so absurdly autumnal this week that I cooked a substantial stew for friends on Saturday night, an intensely flavoured braise of beef short ribs (or pot au feu as our local butcher describes them) with plenty of lush, red wine (a Valdivieso Cabernet Sauvignon from the Maipo Valley in Chile which is part of the Waitrose own label range).

Because this cut is quite fatty even when skimmed I wanted something drier with more pronounced acidity to accompany it and had the perfect answer in a couple of beautifully crafted reds I’d come across at the Bristol Wine and Food Fair last month and which I'd been dying to try with food.

They’re from a domaine called Les Clos Perdus which is based in Peyriac de Mer in Languedoc and is run on biodynamic principles by an Australian and an Englishman with an unusual background - Paul Old, a former dancer who trained as a winemaker in Australia and Hugo Stewart who used to be a farmer in Wiltshire.

The two wines we drank with the stew were the 2005 Cuvée 31, a blend of Mourvèdre, Carignan and Grenache from Peyriac de Mer and 2005 Prioundo, a blend of Grenache, Cinsault and Mourvèdre. They couldn’t have been better with the stew though being a Mourvèdre fan I marginally preferred the Cuvée 31 which was more supple and aromatic. The Prioundo struck me as very similar to a Priorat.

You can buy their wines online by the case (Prioundo is £132, Cuvée 31, £149) or by the bottle from independent wine merchants such as Green & Blue in London and Corks of Cotham in Bristol. You can also find them in a number of top London restaurants such as Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, Club Gascon and The Square.

Braised pheasant with chestnuts and Vacqueyras

Our final pre-Christmas meal at our favourite local restaurant Culinaria the other night was a real feast of winter flavours. Unusually every dish went well with the bottle we chose, a 2005 Vacquéyras Cuvée des Templiers from Le Clos des Cazaux, a wonderfully full-flavoured blend of Syrah and Grenache that was as good as many minor Châteauneuf-du-Pâpes I’ve tasted. A real treat.

I’ve singled out the braised pheasant with chestnuts as the star match because that was the most pitch-perfect combination but my braised shoulder of mutton with root vegetables and pearl barley also went very well with it. So did our two starters, a deep-flavoured game terrine served with spiced onions and an unusual but incredibly moreish dish of braised squid with fennel, leek and orange which had a subtle touch of Moroccan spicing.

Incidentally before choosing the Vacquéyras we hovered over a 2002 Cune Rioja reserva which I think would also have worked well with this robustly flavoured style of food.

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