Roasted asparagus and Jersey royal salad with herb mayonnaise and a 2012 Saumur Champigny

Asparagus, it’s often said, is tough to match with wine, let alone a red, but this combination with a light, chilled Saumur Champigny at the re-opened Bell’s Diner in Bristol was a perfect pairing.

The reason? The asparagus was roasted which offset its grassiness with a touch of caramelisation and accompanied by mealy Jersey Royal new potatoes which also acted as a buffer. But it was the mayo, flavoured with ‘sweet herbs’, most notably tarragon which clinched the deal, the anise-like aromatic notes of the herb chiming in perfectly with the herbal notes of the young Cabernet Franc.

The 2012 isn’t the best vintage I’ve tasted of Thierry Germain’s Domaine des Roches Neuves - it's quite a bit lighter than the gorgeous 2011 - but it’s a consistent favourite that we often order from a wine list because of its versatility with food*

It also went well - for similar reasons - with a light springlike dish of poached rabbit with peas and morcilla (Spanish black pudding) - the hint of mint with the peas again combining with fragrant wine.

The essence of early summer.

* For other suggestions look at the recommendations for the 2011 vintage on Germain’s website

Croissants à la dinde fumée et au cheddar (smoked turkey and cheddar croissants)
Pain roulé à la tapenade et au thon (stuffed - literally rolled - bread with olive paste and tuna)
Briks à la viande hachée (minced beef filo pastries)
Ballotin de poulet et au poivre concassé (a moulded paté of chicken and crushed pepper)
Pain de viande à la carotte et aux olives vertes (meatloaf with carrots and green olives)
Tajine de boulette de Kefta aux raisins secs (meatball tagine with raisins)

Soft boiled eggs with anchoiade and radicchio and Bourgueil

Last week’s best pairing was at a fascinating meal I had at Les 110 de Taillevent in Paris which I’ll be writing up in more detail so here’s an off-the-wall match from last night’s feast at The Unfiltered Dog - a pop up restaurant at the Real Wine Fair run by the team from Terroirs.

Basically it was a souped up egg mayonnaise - the eggs fashionably soft-boiled, the mayo made with anchoiade (anchovy paste) and accompanied by bitter radicchio leaves. A simple and very do-able starter.

By rights it shouldn’t have worked with the Domaine de la Chevalerie Bonn' Heure Bourgeuil 2010 - a light Loire red we had ordered to go with our meal but you know what? Sometimes these off-the-wall pairings work. There’s a saltiness in anchovies and a bitterness in radicchio that accentuated the very appealing fruit in the wine.

It also rubbed along fine with some other challenging dishes - scallops with XO sauce and pork belly with kimchee only faltering at the ferociously hot mustard that accompanied the salt beef. As anything except a lager would probably have done.

If I’d been thinking more about what to drink with these particular dishes rather than just ordering a bottle that appealed on an unseasonably cold night I’d have probably gone for a crisp white. But sometimes it’s fun to go off-piste.

Apologies for the rather unappetising photo. It was very dark!