Fresh clementines and Jorge Ordonez Malaga Seleccion Especial

No Christmas goes by without some wine pairing discovery and this year it was the delicious Jorge Ordonez Malaga Seleccion Especial no. 1 2007 with some simple fresh clementines we had at the end of a post-Christmas meal with friends.

Despite the contemporary packaging I’d expected the Malaga to be similar to those I’d tasted before: dark, treacley and oloroso sherry-like but in fact it was wonderfully light and fresh. The wines, which are made in conjunction with famous Austrian sweet wine producer Kracher, are unfortified and aged in stainless steel.

The Seleccion Especial is apparently made from grapes that are dried on the vine and has a more concentrated almost orangey flavour than the accompanying ‘Victoria’ cuvée which is very fresh and, grapey and which I would love to try with Asian-influenced desserts with tropical fruits and mangoes or with light airy fruit-topped gateaux.

Surprising though it may sound it’s unusual for a wine with orangey notes to go with oranges, or in this case clementines. The fruit often strips the character out of the wine but this was just delicious. I suspect it might even work with Christmas pudding if you wanted a light, refreshing contrast.

The wines are easy to source in the States, slightly less so here in the UK though according to wine-searcher.com it is stocked by Cambridge Wine Merchants at the very reasonable price for this quality of £14.99 a half bottle. Hangingditch in Manchester has it for £17.50 Roberson in London for £17.95, and Harrods for a rather outrageous £19.95 (how on earth do they justify that mark-up?)

Gazpacho and Rueda

Just squeaking in in time for this week’s match of the week is a great gazpacho and Rueda combo I had at lunch today at a new London winebar 28-50.

I’ll be reviewing it in a few days time but this was really a stand-out combination. The chef Paul Walsh, who used to be no. 2 at Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road, has created a spicy twist on the Spanish classic with a crostino rather than a crouton, topped with a coarsely chopped fresh tomato purée and with some basil, chilli and olives in the soup. It wasn’t hot but it had quite a kick.

I picked one of the least expensive wines on the list, a crisp minerally 2009 Rueda called Herbis - a blend of Verdejo and Viura from ex-sommelier Franck Massard of Epicure Wines. I’ve had Sauvignon Blanc before with tomato-based soups so I thought it would work but the combination was actually quite perfect.

28-50 which refers to the latitudes between which wine can be successfully grown is the latest enterprise from Xavier Rousset and Agnar Sverrisson of Texture. Cleverly they’re selling wines by the 75ml measure as well as the standard glass and carafe sizes so you can easily try more than one.

Image © Francesco83 - Fotolia.com

Oxtail cooked in Priorat with prunes matched with 2004 Vall Llach Priorat

The highlight of last week was my trip to Priorat so this week’s pairing has to be one of the wines I tasted. Oddly it wasn’t one of the wines I enjoyed most although it was in the upper echelons of what the region has to offer : a Vall Llach 2004, a blend of 65% Cariñena (old vine Carignan), 20% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon.

The winery was apparently set up by the Catalan singer Lluis Llach and this is their top cuvée. Unlike a couple of other strongly Carignan-influenced wines I tasted (Clos Mogador’s Manyetes and Mas Martinet’s Cami Peserolles) I found it quite overwhelming on its own (it was 15.5% ABV): very dark and brooding with a lot of wood on the nose and some massive tannins (I made a suggestion of roast ox as a suitable pairing in my tasting notes!) But it became as sweet as a pussycat with a rich winey oxtail stew with which I partnered it at the small hotel (Cal Llop) in which we were staying in the hillside village of Gratallops.

The oxtail, which tasted a great deal nicer than the rather blurry photo above might suggest, was cooked in Priorat (not Vall Llach, I’m sure) with prunes which freshened the wine, tamed its ferocious tannins and brought out its more exotic flavours. The wine also paired very well with some aged Manchego cheese.

Vall Llach is available in the UK from Justerini and Brooks. See wine-searcher.com for US and other stockists.

Pairing Comté cheese and Chivite Coleccion 125 Reserva 2001

I spend a lot of my time trying to discourage people from drinking their favourite red wine with a cheeseboard because it's so often a disappointment but every now and again you come across a red wine and cheese combination that really works.

I had in fact picked a cheese for the purpose, a nine month old Comté. It's similar in style to Gruyère but has a richness, roundness and depth of flavour - almost a fruitiness - that you rarely get in Gruyère cheese.

Being a comparatively young cheese it was mellow rather than intense so gave an easy ride to a mature modern Spanish red, a 2001 Coleccion 125 from Bodegas Julian Chivite, a blend of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. It's a wine I've consistently enjoyed over the years, a wine that's still very much in its prime but on which the tannins have softened sufficiently not to intrude on the pairing

It also survived a Dorset Blue Vinney, a West Country cheese which is milder and more mellow than many blues.

Those were the only two cheeses on the table by the way - and all you need. The more cheeses you have, the more chance that one of them will get into a fight with your wine.

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