Savigny-Les-Beaune and Chicken and Cep Pie

Finding something suitable to drink with a good red burgundy is a bit of a challenge as so many dishes are highly flavoured these days.

So - confession time - I made the rookie error of making an elaborate side dish (the herby cabbage and potato gratin) from the new Ottolenghi OTK book because I was afraid the pie which I’d ordered from the Marksman menu on Dishpatch wouldn’t be enough for three.

Had I had more confidence in the generosity of their portions and gone for the simpler accompaniment of mash and perhaps some buttered sprout tops it would have been the perfect match with the delicate, pretty Domaine Seguin-Manuel Savigny-les-Beaune ‘Godeaux’ 2018 I served with it. As it was the wine which was still quite youthful took a bit of a hammering from the herbs, garlic (2 heads of it, albeit roasted) and lemon in the gratin, a dish that probably would have been better with a sharp white, maybe even a Chablis.

You can buy the wine, which I was sent as a sample from Haynes Hanson & Clark for £29 (or £25.75 if you buy a full case) but would suggest it would benefit from a further year or two in your cellar - or wherever you store your wine.

Anyway I don’t hesitate to recommend the Marksman’s Chicken and Cep pie to you, with or without burgundy. It’s utterly delicious.

I paid for the pie. The wine was a press sample.

For other good red burgundy pairings see The Best Pairings with Red Burgundy

Chicken vol-au-vents and La Crema chardonnay

I don’t know why a group of us got swept up by a bout of nostalgia for vol-au-vents on Twitter last week but it became so irresistible my friend Kate and her lodger Mike felt compelled to rustle up a batch to accompany an informal wine tasting the other night.

They would have bought them but there were none to be had, NOT EVEN at Waitrose. So Mike made his own, and topped them with the classic creamy chicken filling (with, intriguingly, a hint of carrot ... )

The best pairing was with a rather delicious 2014 La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay which was fresher and creamier than the typical Californian chard and mirrored the creamy sauce perfectly. A light, fruity 2013 Moobuzz pinot also matched pretty well.

You can buy the La Crema, should you be so minded, for £15.99 from Roberts and Speight (or £14.99 if you buy six) and up to £18.45 elsewhere but to be honest there are less expensive chardonnays from South Africa, Chile and even burgundy that will do the job perfectly well.

If you’re bewildered by the appeal of vol-au-vents - or even wondering what they are - just think of them as mini chicken - or seafood - pies. What’s not to love about a pastry case and a creamy filling?

Chicken pot pie and perry

In the wake of the great cider boom that has gripped the UK over the past year or so perry - which is cider made from pears - is also undergoing a renaissance. Typically drier than cider it goes well with the sort of dishes with which you’d drink a light dry white wine like a Chenin Blanc or a Chardonnay.

The other night I enjoyed a half pint of draught Weston’s Herefordshire Country Perry with an absolutely exemplary organic chicken, leek and mushroom pot pie at my new local The Kensington Arms in Bristol which turns out to be a real gem. The sauce was creamy with just a hint of mustard, a bitter note which stopped the dish being over-rich and brought out all the flavour in the perry. It also took a side dish of strong, irony fresh spinach in its stride.

Other dishes - a chunky terrine of chicken and veal with pistachios and onion chutney, a very crabby crab linguine, some rich, gamey faggots (meatballs made with offal) served with cauliflower cheese and Guinness gravy, and an intensely blackcurranty summer pudding were first rate. And we’ll certainly be back for the fish and hand-cut chips which we eyed covetously on the next door table.

Image © Springfield Gallery - Fotolia.com