Carrot, lemon and tahini soup with Roussanne

i haven't written about soup and wine for ages - I've always felt a bit ambivalent about it on the grounds that it seems counter-intuitive to pair one liquid with another - but this is the second post in as many weeks (the other one being here)

This time it was a rich carrot soup from Ruby Tandoh’s clever new book Cook As You Are but unusual in that it included tahini and lemon. I happened to have a bottle of the South African producer Rustenberg’s 2020 Roussanne open which worked really well being quite full-flavoured itself but with a freshness that complemented and underlined the lemony notes in the soup. (I also tried a vermentino but it was too sharp so reckon an old vine chenin blanc or Cape white blend would have worked too as would a white Côtes du Rhône.)

Roussanne is an underrated grape variety that’s most often found in a white Rhône blend but has a seductively peachy character of its own. I’ve also enjoyed it with roast chicken.

You can buy this one from branches of Booths and Lea & Sandeman in London for £12.50 or online from SAwines.co.uk for £10.99 a bottle. Rustenberg does a good malbec too.

For other soup pairings check out my post on matching wine and soup

Tamworth belly ribs and 2006 Qupé Roussanne

Sometimes the best matches are the unexpected ones. I was (shameless plug alert) helping the team at my son’s restaurant Hawksmoor select wines for a dinner to celebrate their 10th anniversary which will feature some of the classic dishes they’ve had on the menu since the early days.

One was Tamworth Belly Ribs which I remembered as a rich, sticky, American style pork rib. I was almost sure a lush red like grenache would be the ideal match but it turned out the dish had evolved into a lighter, more Asian style of dish and that the ribs were now accompanied by a punchy slaw.

It suggested a white rather than a red so Hawksmoor’s wine buyer Becca pulled out a range of options including this 2006 Roussanne from Qupé's Bien Nacido Hillside Estate*, a Californian producer who has also been on the winelist since the early days. It was absolutely stunning, partly because of the age of the wine but also its intensity and concentration (it’s a none-too-timid 14.5%).

For those of you in the restaurant business it goes to show you need to keep an eye on the wine pairings you recommend for signature dishes. Chef may have changed them while you weren't looking!

* and from the website it doesn't look as if they are actually making it any more

Red mullet, tapenade and white Saint Joseph

Last week I was in the Northern Rhone where the biggest challenge, from a food and wine matching perspective, is what you eat with its distinctive whites which are made from Marsanne and Roussanne

The confusing thing is that they’re all different. Some producers favour 100% Marsanne, others add up to 50% of Roussanne and a few focus on Roussanne exclusively.

It’s the Marsanne and Marsanne-dominated ones which are tricky. They’re rich but quite low in acidity and have a touch of bitterness on the finish which doesn’t make them an obvious match for normal white wine go-to’s such as salad and seafood. Red mullet, however, is a distinctive slightly earthy fish which, accompanied by tapenade (both black and a very garlicky green), made for a really good pairing. There were even preserved artichokes and sundried tomatoes on the plate which didn’t throw the wine off its stride.

The wine was Joel Durand’s 2013 white Saint Joseph which is 70% Marsanne, 30% of which is aged in wood. Unfortunately although Berry Bros has his reds it doesn’t appear to be available in the UK. In France you can buy it from Les Caves du Roy for 19€ or from the cellar door in Chateaubourg.