Cecina, potato and kale soup and Chateau Montus Madiran

The idea of matching a soup with a full-bodied south-western French red wine might seem bizarre but it proved a surprisingly good pairing.

Admittedly it was a freezing cold, snowy day which put one in mind for both. I was already drinking the wine - Alain Brumont’s wonderfully dark rich damsony Château Montus 2004 at our local wine bar Flinty Red and couldn’t resist the idea of the soup of the day, which was cecina, potato and kale - a creative trans-Iberian spin on the Portuguese Caldo Verde. Cecina is a Spanish air-dried beef which has a savoury, salty tang which balanced out the soft potatoes, bitter greens and grassy olive oil.

It was more a stew than a soup which is why it worked with such a full-bodied wine. The Montus would also have been very good with cheese (especially sheeps' cheese) if I’d ordered some with it as you can see from my recent report from its stablemate Château Bouscassé.