Bacon cheeseburger with Pinea 17 Ribera del Duero

I’m not normally someone who craves a ‘dirty burger’ but when I was sent a couple in a meat delivery from my mate Northern Irish butcher Pete Hannan I thought I’d go the full hog with it.

It was pretty spectacular in itself - a thick patty of salt-aged Glenarm shorthorn beef which I then proceeded to load with Pitchfork cheddar (from cheesemaker friends Trethowan Brothers), crisp-fried streaky bacon (from Brown & Forrest) and some addictive deep fried onion rings from the previous weekend’s Indian cooking experiment from Roopa Gulati’s new book, India from the World Vegetarian series. Plus a brioche-style bun from my local offie, amazingly. How burger buns have moved on.

It was quite a challenge for any wine to stand up to and I would normally have gone for a new world cabernet sauvignon or Bordeaux blend but happened to have a bottle of the Pinea 17 Ribera del Duero open, an impressive wine which normally retails at £52 but is on promotion currently at winebuyers.com for £35 (still expensive, I know).

You might think it was way too serious a wine but I have previously found that expensive, structured full-bodied reds show surprisingly well with burgers. This was a modern style of Ribera del Duero, already mature for a 2017, and deliciously smooth and velvety.

For other ideas check out Six of the best pairings for a burger

Disclosure. The burgers, cheese and bacon were gifts and the wine a sample. Yes, I *know*. I know I’m lucky to be in this business and apologies if it comes across as smug or entitled 🙄