Fennel and apple salad and Solaris

Finding a new salad that you love and will make many times over again is a win for any weekend but when you find the perfect wine pairing with it too it’s a real high point

The salad comes from fellow Guardian writer Meera Sodha’s Fresh India and is a fennel and apple chaat with caramelized almonds to give it its full name. It’s really light and springlike as the ingredients suggest and comes with crunchy little nuggets of caramelised nuts flavoured with crushed fennel seeds, ginger and honey. The dressing is a simple oil and lemon one seasoned with garam masala - which just gives it a faintly spicy kick. I swopped half of it with neighbours who gave me Meera’s winter pilau from East in return then we ate and chatted on Zoom.

The wine is Welsh, believe it or not - a Solaris from Montgomery vineyard in Powys and is deceptively rich given its modest 11.5% ABV. Solaris has become popular in the UK given that it ripens early. Montgomery's version is not cheap: Welsh - and English - wines rarely are but it really is delicious with some lovely fresh tropical fruit. You can buy it for £17.95 from Cheers of Swansea.

For other wine pairings for salad see Which Wine Pairs best with Salad

Artichoke barigoule and grüner veltliner

So maybe Austria’s signature grape grüner veltliner is the perfect pairing for tricky-to-match artichokes?

I’ve suggested it as a good option before in this post on matching wine and artichokes and last week’s experience of trying the two together at Bristol restaurant No Man’s Grace has confirmed my view.

The occasion was the fourth dinner in a series organised by local cookbook club Eat Your Words where Bristol chefs cook a menu from one of their favourite cookbooks. John Watson of No Man’s Grace was ambitiously tackling The French Laundry Cookbook and opted to serve the very French barigoule - a dish of braised artichokes with onions, carrots and fennel - with a crisp 2014 Austrian grüner veltliner from Hopler (available at James Nicholson) which really stood up to it surprisingly well.

The restaurant is also noted for its desserts and served two as part of the dinner: a strawberry shortbread with a 2011 I Capetelli, a late harvest Garganega from Soave producer Anselmi (winedirect.co.uk) and a divinely light lemon sabayon pine nut tart with honeyed mascarpone with a 2013 Late Harvest Tokaji Katinka from Patricius (Hic wine merchants). Both were great matches but I actually preferred the fresher, sharper Capetelli with the tart.

Burrata and watermelon with Montej rosé

It’s not often that you come across a wine match that’s as successful as it’s unexpected but sommelier Ruth Spivey’s pairing of a fruity Monferrato chiaretto rosato (aka rosé) from Piedmont with a dish of burrata, pressed watermelon and pickled fennel at Arbutus the other night was spot on - and all the more impressive given that she hadn’t had a chance to taste the combination beforehand.

I’ve written about the evening - the first in a series of ‘wine wars’ where leading london sommeliers are invited to pit their wits against the restaurant’s co-owner and wine buyer Will Smith - in the wine pros section but I’ve tasted nothing better all week. The rosé perfectly echoed the fresh fruity flavour of the watermelon. It was like having liquid watermelon on the side!

I can’t find it listed by any UK retail stockist but it’s apparently imported by fortyfive10.com.

Grey mullet, fennel and muscadet

This isn’t the first time I’ve made muscadet my match of the week but it’s a wine that’s great value, constantly improving in quality and unbelievably versatile with food.

This time it was a sure fire hit at a restaurant called Le Servan I’ll be reviewing shortly with a lovely dish of raw grey mullet with sorrel cream. fennel and a touch of fresh coriander. The dryness of the wine chimed in perfectly with the raw fish and slight sourness of the sorrel, not detracting in any way from the clean, sharp flavours.

The wine was a Clos les Montys 2013 from Domaine de la Chauvinière which was only 11%, I seem to remember, and selling for just 4€ a glass. It proves yet again you don’t have to have a wine with a high level of alcohol to carry flavour.

Interestingly the producer’s website suggests that it’s a good wine for laying down but then I have had interesting encounters with aged muscadet before (see here and here).

I reckon we’ll be seeing more of Muscadet on wine lists in 2015.