23 year old Chablis and crispy chicken wings

There were a couple of contenders for match of the week this week. I particularly enjoyed a gin and tonic with my king prawn coconut curry for a start but I’m going for this pairing as it’s always tricky to know what to drink with an very old wine.

The bottle in question was a 1999 La Forêt premier cru Chablis from Domaine Dauvissat-Camus which had developed a rich, almost caramelly flavour though still with a fresh acidity that cut through our starter of salt baked celeriac and confit of chicken wings (basically boned out, crisped up wings). There was some black garlic and pickled wild garlic stems in the dish but it was the umami taste of the shards of crispy chicken skin that did the trick.

The dish was at Rhubarb at Drapers Hall in Shrewsbury and the wine was generously shared by James Tanner of Tanners wine merchants round the corner where I had been doing a food and wine tasting. (The prawns with sweet chilli sauce and Barry & Sons Clare Valley riesling and belly pork with apple purée with Domaine Bruno Sorg pinot gris from Alsace were particularly good matches there!)

For other good pairings with Chablis click here

I ate at Rhubarb as a guest of Tanners Wines

Dumplings and grand cru Chablis

You might think dumplings were humble fare, not best suited to show off a great wine but as last week’s tasting lunch at Bob Bob Ricard proved, that’s not necessarily the case.

They laid on two from their largely Russian-inspired dinner menu - some lobster, crab and shrimp pelmeni which were served with a langoustine bisque and truffle, potato and mushroom vareniki (above) which came with a forest mushroom velouté.

Both were spectacularly good with a mature 2016 grand cru Chablis ‘Les Clos’ from Domaine Christian Moreau which sells for £100 on the list.

Of course it wasn’t the dumplings themselves that were the key to the match but the umami-rich fillings and soups in which they were served - shellfish on the one hand and mushrooms and truffles on the other.

And although the wine itself was expensive, at £10 for the mushroom dumplings and £14 for the loster ones, the dumplings are quite affordable.

Since wine is a feature of the restaurant it’s good to see a menu that’s designed to show it off.

I ate at the restaurant as a guest of Bob Bob Ricard who obligingly supplied the very professional photos given that mine were a bit rubbish and wouldn't have encouraged you to try the combination out at all.

Chaource cheese paired with vermouth

I have to thank my colleague drinks writer, wine guru and good time pal Kate Hawkings for this week's pairing. Once she squealed excitedly about it on Twitter I knew I had to drop by her restaurant (Bellita) and give it a try.

Kate (also author of the excellent new Aperitif) is a big vermouth fan and was sipping a glass of her latest find when she tried it with a slice of Chaource, a creamy, slightly citrussy brie-like cheese from the Aube, the southern part of the champagne region. Maybe it wasn’t *quite* match of the century as she claimed - we have a good few years to go yet - but it was utterly delicious.

The vermouth, or vermut as they call them in Spain, is a delicately honeyed bianco style called Ciento Volando from Diego Fernandez Pons - off-dry but not over-sweet and was almost like eating a luscious ripe pear with the cheese. It's not available in the UK - yet - but do experiment with other dry and off-dry vermouths which are more flexible than you might think with food.

Chaource (pronounced sha-orss) also goes really well with champagne, chablis and other white burgundies should you feel so minded and actually won’t throw a good red burgundy (it’s a less pongy than brie as it matures). You can even buy it in Sainsbury's for the very affordable price of £3 (and almost certainly in Waitrose too).

For more inspiring wine pairings download my ebook 101 Great Ways to Enjoy Cheese and Wine.

Soumaintrain and Chablis

There were many great pairings to pick from in Chablis last week but the one I’m going for is a cheese I was relatively unfamiliar with: Soumaintrain

It’s an unpasteurised soft cow’s milk cheese from burgundy that is washed with brine and Marc de Bourgogne (a grappa-like spirit) but generally has a creamier texture and less pungent flavour than Epoisses - or at least it did in the Chablis region where the exterior of the cheese is ivory white rather than yellow or orange.

I think younger cheeses work best with a younger Chablis or premier cru Chablis of, say, 2-3 years old while more mature ones benefit from a vieilles vignes (old vines), older vintages or a grand cru Chablis. I’m not sure I’d open a grand cru especially for the cheese course but if you were drinking one with the main course it would work perfectly with the cheese. Much better than most red burgundy, in my opinion.

More to follow on Chablis pairings in due course . . .