Roquefort and Loupiac

With just over three weeks to Christmas - and even less time to order the Christmas wine if you haven’t already done so - it’s time for us laggards to focus on what we’re going to be drinking and that’s what I’m going to be doing this week.

First off, a sublime sweet wine I tasted the other day at a tasting organised by a Bristol-based company called Vine Trail which supplies a number of top London restaurants including Rowley Leigh’s Le Café Anglais - a 2002 Loupiac 2002 Cuvée d’Or from Château Dauphin-Rondillon, the property’s top cuvée. I’d defy anyone to tell it from its neighbour Sauternes, so opulent and seductive is the fruit with that wonderful touch of hazelnut you find in aged sweet Bordeaux. And at £15.75 a bottle (£9.75 a half bottle) it’s a snip.

I didn’t try it with food but it would go with all the usual Sauternes suspects. Roquefort (and Stilton, plus washed rind cheeses such as Epoisses), foie gras (if you eat foie gras, duck liver parfait if you don’t), French-style apple, pear and apricot tarts and even Christmas pudding provided you added a good dollop of cream (cream always shows off Sauternes to perfection, so would showcase Loupiac too). Or simply sip it on its own. A lovely, lovely treat.

Foie gras and Sauternes

While I no longer eat foie gras myself (as explained here) for the French there is no other way to celebrate the réveillon, or New Year’s Eve.

Usually the foie gras is served cold, on its own or as a terrine and the lush, sweet lemon and honey flavours of the wine acts as a perfect counterpoint to the super-smooth texture and otherwise slightly cloying flavour of the foie gras.

Can you pull off the same trick with other dessert wines? To some extent yes. Other sweet Bordeaux such as Cadillac and Loupiac or sweet wines from around the Bordeaux region like Monbazillac are pretty good but they don’t have quite the intensity of Sauternes - or the impact when you put the bottle on the table. You can also partner foie gras with similar wines such as a late-harvest Semillon or Sauvignon.

The only downside is having to start a meal with a sweet wine which is not to everyone’s taste. An alternative would be to serve a mature reserve Chardonnay in which rich, buttery, caramelly notes have developed.