Seared diver-caught scallops and mature white burgundy

I was trying to think what food and wine match I would most like to be presented with on Valentine’s Day. I’m off foie gras. Caviar is horrendously expensive and very un-PC. Smoked salmon is nice, certainly, but no longer quite the special treat it once was (unless it’s wild). And I must be one of the few people in the world who isn’t anyone’s for a gooey chocolate pud.

So far as wine is concerned I rarely turn down a glass of Champagne but it would be nice to be offered something a little less obvious. A great red? Tempting, but I’m not sure Valentine’s night is the night for a large hunk of meat.

What I would really like - and I hope my husband is reading this - are a few fabulously fresh diver-caught scallops just seared on the grill, accompanied by a small salad of freshly picked leaves and a really gorgeous bottle of white burgundy (which we would obviously share . . . ) In my romantic fantasy it would be an old Corton-Charlemagne but I’d happily settle for a Chassagne-Montrachet or a Pernand-Vergelesses.

There’s something about aged white burgundy - and other top Chardonnays - that goes sublimely well with the umami taste you get in seared scallops (and foods such as roast chicken and mature parmesan which we could nibble for afters). Hard to beat as a Valentine’s treat.

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