Mackerel and artichokes with Mademoiselle rosé

As I’ve been down in the Languedoc for the past week most of my food and wine combinations have been classic. Picpoul and oysters (always great), a rich grenache/syrah/mourvedre blend called Cascaillou* with a beef daube (spot on) and my wine of the week, Mas des Chimères Oeillade (a cinsault) with grilled lamb and herbs.

But the most intriguing pairing was, on the face of it, the trickiest. What do you pair with mackerel, artichokes, brandade and aioli? Answer, it turns out, a dry rosé.

The dish was a somewhat fancy one from Le Bistrot d’Alex, the restaurant attached to the enterprising co-op at Florensac but tasted better than it perhaps sounds. A roughly crushed brandade (salt cod purée), served with grilled lisettes (baby mackerel) accompanied by grilled artichokes topped with aioli. The artichokes were the most dominant flavour which is always fine by me.

The wine, which is made by the co-op and sells for around 6€ is a remarkably good one despite the girly label and being called Mademoiselle. Well worth picking up a case if you’re in the area. My friends, who are taking a car back loaded up with 10!

* from Domaine La Croix Belle. Unfortunately they only make it in limited quantities - it doesn't even feature on their website.

Seafood pizza and Craven The Firs Syrah

A full-flavoured red and seafood? Doesn’t sound like the kind of pairing that would work but as ever it depends on the wine and how the dish is prepared.

The pizza was one of a range of gourmet pizzas at a great little restaurant called Burrata at The Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, Capetown we visited on Friday night with a couple of winemakers, Mick and Jeanine Craven of Craven Wines (Mick also makes wine at Mulderbosch) and Gavin Bruwer of B Vintners who also makes the Raats Family wines.

I ordered a di Mare (prawns, squid and chili aioli) just because I was curious to see what it was like. Thanks to the garlic it was quite punchy so easily able to handle a red.

The syrah (a 2015 and definitely a syrah rather than a shiraz) was Mick and Jeanine’s, a really delicious bright juicy example with a good whack of the white pepper and spice that characterises wines from the northern Rhône. Amazingly it was only 12.5%, which is typical of a trend to lower alcohol wines among the new generation of South African wine producers (though Mick is in fact an Aussie!). Apparently it’ll be hitting the UK sometime in the spring.

Manzanilla and tapas

I was reminded just how enjoyable this combination is the other day when I dropped by London’s latest tapas bar Barrafina and enjoyed a pre-dinner pick-up of a glass of Hidalgo with some al-i-oli and toast. The sharp tangy sherry was the perfect foil for the crisp toast and silky, garlic-flavoured mayo that accompanied it.

Manzanilla is the driest of Spain’s sherries. It’s made right on the coast in the small town of Sanlucar de Barrameda which gives it an almost salty flavour. It should be served freshly opened and well chilled. (It’s better to buy in half bottles than full size ones so you can finish it within a couple of days) It will go with any kind of tapa - roasted almonds, olives, slices of chorizo, wedges of tortilla and any kind of crisply fried fish as well as the more ambitious creations that they serve at Barrafina such as Tuna Tartar and Grilled Chicken with Romesco Sauce.

Barrafina, which is at 54 Frith Street in Soho, is the latest enterprise from brothers Sam and Eddie Hart who opened the very successful Fino a couple of years ago. It’s a tiny place, as many authentic tapas bars are - just a counter (if a very posh counter) with seating and standing along the side. There’s no booking which is a refreshing change in these days of 2 month waiting lists. Good for a pre-theatre drink.

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