Roast squash with sage and Crozes-Hermitage

I generally think of chardonnay when I’m pairing squash or pumpkin but this dish at the excellent wine bar and shop Cave in Bristol at our freelancers’ Christmas get-together last week suggested another good option.]

It was a dish of roast squash with goats curd, crispy sage and ample quantities of brown butter which, yes, would have gone with chardonnay but was also brilliantly good with a slightly wild, almost natural 2021 Crozes-Hermitage from Jean Louis Chave

While chardonnay would have complemented the sweet buttery flavours the Crozes-Hermitage picked up on the bitterness of the sage which chimed in perfectly with the wild briary edges of the syrah. A mellow middle-aged wine rather than a vibrant young one.

The wine, which is called Silène is from Chave’s Sélection range which is designed to be drunk earlier than his top wines. You can buy the 2021 from AG Wines for £27.95 while Yapp Brothers have the 2022 for £22.

What else to drink with squash and pumpkin

For other insights into the effect herbs can have on a wine pairing see What wine (or other drinks) should you pair with herbs

A rich jus and Ju de Vie

You’d think a rich winey sauce or jus would be the easiest thing to match with red wine but that isn’t necessarily the case as it tends to compete with it.

In this case the jus was particularly intense - accompanying a braised featherblade of beef in a fantastic dish from Gary Usher’s Elite Bistros at Home takeaway menu.

I was sent it - and a couple of other dishes* - by my pal Mike Boyne of Bin Two in Padstow together with matching wines in frustration at not being able to get together for a meal this year. The Ju de vie is from Julien Mus of Domaine de la Graveirett, a biodynamic producer in the Rhone and classified as a vin de France due to the unusual blend of merlot, marselan, grenache and mourvèdre.

Although it was 14% there was a freshness and savouriness to it that offset the sweet richness of the sauce (also due to being aged in concrete tanks rather than oak) and I was thinking that if you’d served a Napa cabernet or Barossa shiraz with it it would just have been too much.

It also went really well with a coq au vin I made the following night.(Yup, it has been a really indulgent couple of days and Christmas hasn’t even started yet. Still, we all need cheering up this year, don’t we?)

You can buy the Ju de Vie from Mike at Bin Two for £15.50.

* Braised octopus with morcilla and chickpeas with a brilliant Georgian orange wine called Teliani Valley Kakhuri No 8 and banana cake with butterscotch sauce and candied pecans with the 2017 MAD Tokaji late harvest wine both great pairings too.

Vinsobres with wild boar stew and chestnut polenta

You’d expect a Southern Rhône red to go with wild boar but in fact it was the chestnut polenta that made the match with this former Côtes du Rhône ‘cru’ so successful

The dish was cooked as part of a five course tasting menu by Matt Williamson formerly of Flinty Red in Bristol at an inaugural event for wefifo in Bristol. (Wefifo is like a foodie equivalent of Airbnb where hosts cook for paying guests.)

The wines were chosen by local wine importer Nick Brookes of Vine Trail and the dish was paired with a 2012 Vinsobres ‘Emile’ from a biodynamic estate called Domaine de la Pequelette. It was a typically southern Rhone blend of 75% Grenache, 10% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah and 5% Carignan from low-yielding old vines - full-bodied, deep and savoury.

I think it was the grenache in particular that chimed in with the rich meat and sweet, chestnutty polenta. I’d definitely thinking about pairing grenache with chestnut again.

Foxlow's 10 hour beef shortrib and Pierre Gonon's Saint-Joseph

I can’t pretend to be wholly impartial about this wine match which comes from Foxlow, the latest restaurant from my son Will and his business partner Huw Gott (who also own Hawksmoor).

I got to see it for the first time last week and immediately pounced on the ribs. This is the beef rib which is cooked for 10 hours and wondrously sticky and smoky. (There’s also an eight hour bacon rib with maple and chilli which You Must Not Miss*)

I’d ordered a bottle of 2010 Pierre Gonon Saint-Joseph from a section of the wine list which has been curated by the brilliant Sager + Wilde wine bar in Hackney. (Charlotte Sager-Wilde used to work for Hawksmoor). There’s going to be a guest page every month which will be fun.

Like many of the wines S + W promote it's traditionally made using natural composts and without any chemical treatments so the syrah has a slightly funky edge that suited the smoky ribs perfectly - and even took the accompanying kimchi in its stride. Try it with the smoked rillettes too ....

*I can also recommend the bacon salt fries and the bourbon caramel soft serve sundae. Oh, and the St John’s cocktail (gin, prune eau de vie, honey and lemon). Not that I’m biased or anything . . .