Three surefire pairings for pinot noir

Most of the time, as you’ll have noticed, I feature the more offbeat wine pairings I’ve come across in my match of the week slot. This week I’ve been reminded of the virtue of some that seldom go wrong.

All involve pinot noir, surely one of the most food-friendly of reds. The first was at a sustainability event I co-hosted for New Zealand Winegrowers. My task was to pair five different grape varieties from sustainable wineries (which the vast majority in New Zealand are) with vegetarian dishes. The glorious 2010 Felton Road Bannockburn pinot noir from Central Otago which was showing beautifully, was perfect with some creamy mushroom-topped toasts with a crisp parmesan wafer. (That vintage is available at Berry Bros & Rudd for £350 a case in bond - you'll find more recent vintages elsewhere for £30-35.)

The second was at The Gainsborough in Bath where I was tasting wines from another Kiwi producer, Gladstone in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand (just next door to Martinborough). In this instance the wine was their 2013 pinot noir, a younger, more elegant wine with incredibly pure fruit, and the food a dish of roast pork loin with mushrooms, black pudding and fresh broad (fava) beans. (York Wines have it for £17.95 which is a bargain.)

And finally - closer to home at the Three Gables restaurant* in Bradford-on-Avon - a reminder how brilliant duck is with pinot noir - the twist in this case being that the pinot was Brazilian - the impressively silky 2014 Valduga Indidate pinot noir which is currently selling off the wine list for a very reasonable £28 a bottle or £8.50 a glass. That's on sale currently at Selfridges for £14.99 and imported by Berkmanns.

Useful information, I hope, because sometimes, rather than starting with the food, you've got a special wine you want to enjoy with something that will show it at its best.

The best food pairings for pinot noir

Peter Gordon's beef pesto and Pencarrow pinot noir

I found myself back in an old haunt last week - Peter Gordon’s The Providores in London’s Marylebone High Street. As the bar was crowded we went up to the restaurant and treated ourselves to the à la carte*

This was a classic from Peter’s Sugar Club days - a dish of incredibly tender beef fillet with a warm chard, courgette and beetroot salad with a garlic dressing, green pesto and kalamata olives. It was great with the wine I was drinking, a bright, fruity 2011 Pencarrow Pinot Noir from Martinborough that I’d chosen as a versatile option with the myriad flavours that Peter puts on the plate but I suspect those ingredients, especially the garlic, pesto and olives would have made almost any red wine sing.

Pencarrow turns out to be an introductory range from the prestigious Palliser estate which accounts for the quality. You can currently buy it as a bin end from loveyourwine.co.uk for £10.99, on special offer from the New Zealand House of Wine if you buy two bottles, and £12.79 from Noel Young wines. (Check wine-searcher.com for other stockists.)

*Great food but not a cheap option. We spent £130 for 2 for 3 courses, 1 side and 2 glasses of wine. If you're looking for a casual supper I'd stick to the Tapa Room downstairs. The winelist in both is excellent though.