Langoustine and chickpea velouté with ‘fine’ rosé

I went to a really interesting tasting and lunch in London last week to celebrate the new Fine Rosé Day - an attempt to get the world to take rosé more seriously as a gastronomic wine.

The menu was devised by - none better - the team at the newly two Michelin-starred Trivet, each course paired with two contrasting wines, and contained some really interesting matches.

The standout one for me was a dish of poached langoustine with chickpea velouté - an unlikely but hugely clever combination, with both elements cleverly playing on the strengths of the two accompanying wines

One was the 2023 Feudi di San Gregorio San Greg rosato whose delicate red berry fruit chimed in beautifully with the langoustine (and accompanying dill); the other the more mature, savoury Ultimum from Torpez in St Tropez which was sensationally good with the slightly nutty chickpea velouté.

I can only find the Ultimum in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland at the moment but you can buy the San Greg currently from allaboutwine.co.uk for £19.39 which is a good price as it’s over £22 elsewhere. But do try the chickpea pairing with other savoury rosés.

Steak tartare and Provence rosé

It’s back to the usual drizzly grey grot this Monday morning but the past week has been glorious.

Definitely rosé weather which prompted my friend Andy Clarke* and I to crack open a bottle of Provence rosé at one of my favourite Bristol restaurants, Little French, the other day.

You might think that was odd as we’d both opted for steak. Andy, an onglet, in my case a steak tartare. But actually the wine - the By.Ott from Domaine Ott worked with both

In my previous post on steak tartare I wrote “Not the very pale Provence type but a Bandol rosé would be lovely.” I take that back - a good quality pale Provence rose is spot on too, especially with a fresh crunchy salad on the side. (And chips, obviously!)

You can buy By.Ott from various Indies in the UK, normally for around £25 but a wine merchant called De Burgh has the 2022 for £19.99 though I'm guessing they'll move on to the 2023 if that sells through quickly

* BTW Andy has a new book on gin coming out if you’re keen on cocktails and although I’m not much of a mixologist myself I’ve had great success with his recipes.

Strawberries and white zinfandel

I think it’s good to re-examine your prejudices so every so often I go back to wines I don’t much like, white zin being a good example.

I had to taste some as part of research for an article recently and by and large it confirmed my impression that it wasn’t a wine for me. Not with savoury foods in any case but maybe sweet ones would show it off better?

I’d suggested in the past it might go with strawberries and hit on the idea of a perfect snack to pair with it - a riff on scones and cream without having to make the scones.

Ritz crackers, generously spread with Philly or other cream cheese and topped with a couple of slices of strawberry. There's a lovely contrast of salty cracker, smooth creamy cheese and sharp, fruity strawberry. A little freshly ground black pepper if you like, makes it even better IMO.

Serve the white zin (not sure why they don’t call it a rosé these days) well chilled or even over a couple of ice cubes. It’s only around 10% so perfect teatime drinking even if you don’t have a sweet tooth. Berry-topped cheesecakes or Eton mess would would work too.

Oysters and Provence rosé

I wouldn’t have thought of pairing rosé with oysters to be honest when there are so many good alternatives in the way of white wines but when I was poured a glass of Chateau Galoupet’s Côtes de Provence rosé at Hawksmoor Wood Wharf the other night I found it was a surprisingly good match.

They serve oysters three ways - unadorned, roasted with bone marrow and with a Scotch bonnet mignonette.

The chilli-spiked mignonette was particularly good with the Provençal style of rosé which in many ways works similarly to a white with seafood.

I’m not sure I would abandon my usual choices which you can see if you click on the link below but if I was opening just the one bottle with a meal of which oysters were part it would work just fine - as it would with a less expensive but equally dry rosé

The best wine (and other) pairings with oysters

You can buy Chateau Galoupet’s 2021 rosé on offer £36 at Berry Bros & Rudd at the time of writing and for about £45-50 at other indies

I ate at Hawksmoor as a guest (of my son!)