Practically every barbecued meat you can think of and an amazing Aussie grenache

Normally my matches of the week are quite specific - a dish and a drink - but it’s always great to find a wine that sails through everything on the table as this gorgeous grenache did at London’s latest barbecue restaurant Temper last week.

It was the Jauma Like Raindrops from the McLaren Vale in South Australia, recommended by their sommelier Donald Edwards and it took absolutely every dish in its stride from some intensely smokey beef to an outrageously good side of beef fat potatoes with raclette. Not to mention the sides of ‘MSG’ ketchup, green sauce and pork, habanero and pickled onion ‘sprinkle’, a battery of flavours for any wine to contend with.

The grapes which come from three different vineyards are organically grown and made without any chemical additions including sulphur which gives the wine a particularly pure, vibrant character. It’s a natural wine but a totally unscary one - just soft, ripe, gorgeous and delicious. There’s a good description of the winery from their American importer Vine Street Imports here.

You can see my article on how you can now drink fine wines in barbecue restaurants on the Decanter website.

I ate at Temper as a guest of the restaurant.

Grilled sardines and - eeek! - Sir Cliff's Onda Nova Verdelho

As the best summer for a barbeque for some years it’s been a frustrating time for us flat-dwellers but when I was sent some fresh sardines* the other day I knew I was going to have to find some way to grill them outside if the flat wasn’t going to smell of fish for days.

We ended up buying a portable barbecue and cooking them in the gardens below and I have to say they were all the better for our campfire-style efforts. Sardines are made to be grilled.

They’re also made to be washed down with Portuguese Verdelho, a terroir-based match that makes eminent sense. My husband had discovered a bottle labelled Onda Nova on the ViniPortugal stand at the Bristol Wine and Food Fair the other day and we’d enjoyed its fresh green sappy almost Vinho Verde-esque character. It also picked up well on our accompanying veg: grilled fennel, courgettes (zucchini) and baby artichokes and on the radishes we nibbled while we were waiting for the fire to catch.

It wasn’t until I read about the wine afterwards I discovered that the estate Adega do Cantor, which is based in the Algarve, is owned by none other than British pop legend Cliff Richard, whose silver signature adorns the back label. The wine - according to Sir Cliff who I imagine doesn’t make it himself - is fermented in stainless steel and filtered and bottled with minimal handling within six months of vintage. It's a substantial 14% but wears its alcohol lightly.

Would I have enjoyed it as much if I’d known beforehand? I probably wouldn’t. I’d have expected it to be confected and commercial and I would have been wrong. You can buy it from everywine.co.uk for £73.59 - not bad but not nearly such a bargain as it was at the fair where we snapped it up for £7.99 a bottle. (It would have been €8.50 direct from the site but is unfortunately sold out. It might be worth keeping an eye out for the 2009 vintage)

*By mail by a firm called Fish for Thought which originally traded as Martin's Seafresh and was one of the original online fish suppliers.

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Jerk chicken and rum punch

Despite the beautiful weather we’ve had over the past couple of days there’s a distinct late summer feel to the air which combined with the fact that the nights are drawing in reminds one - sadly - there aren’t that many evenings left for barbecuing this year. (Unless you’re one of those die-hards who grills all year round . . . )

It’s also carnival-time in London this holiday weekend so what better combination to celebrate than the perfect pairing of Jerk Chicken and rum punch?

Like all spicy foods Jerk Chicken (which is chicken rubbed with a dry spice mix that includes chillies and allspice) tastes best with something cold and slightly sweet and rum punch ticks both boxes. The classic Caribbean formula I was given was I (measure) of sour, 2 of sweet, 3 of strong (rum, of course) and 4 of weak (some kind of fruit juice). Personally I find that a bit sweet so tend to make it 1 measure rather than 2 of sweet.

I don’t know how authentic this is but for me the sour should be freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice, the sweet, sugar syrup or grenadine which will give the punch a fabulous colour, the rum golden or spiced (something like Appleton V/X, Cockspur or Morgan’s Spiced) and the juice a good quality tropical fruit juice that includes mango. (Sometimes I add some fresh mango pure as well). Simply pour into a large jug of ice cubes, stir and decorate with mint.

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