Match of the week
Prosecco and burrata
I wonder how many people think about food when they’re drinking prosecco. Not many, I suspect. Given the comparative sweetness of most bottles I certainly tend to think in terms of sweet dishes as much as savoury ones as you can see from this post. Teatime seems to me the perfect occasion to drink it.
But prosecco is getting drier as I discovered at a recent tasting and lunch at Eataly hosted by the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG and therefore rather more versatile
We sipped the producers’ proseccos with octopus, risotto and tiramisu but the pairing that stood out for me with the drier proseccos was a Caprese salad of burrata with tomatoes and basil. Most prosecco I think would struggles with tomato but it was the creamy burrata that really kicked the pairing into touch. (Mozzarella would work too though isn't quite as luxuriantly creamy.)
Confusingly the description Extra Dry on a bottle doesn’t actually mean that, in fact it indicates the wine is on the sweeter side. You need to look out for the designation extra brut which applies to proseccos that have less than 6g of added sugar. Three that worked particularly well were the Biancavigna Rive di Soligo Extra Brut 2021 (1.5g), the La Tordera ‘Otreval’ Rive di Guia Brut 2021 (0g) and the Sorelle Brona ‘Particella 68’ Rive di Colbertaldo Brut 2021 (6g). (Rive are the equivalent of crus - specific areas which are designated as higher quality.)
By the way, note the recent vintages. Prosecco is released quite young which adds to its freshness.
What sort of food to pair with prosecco?
I attended the lunch as a guest of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG
Gazpacho, oak-smoked tomatoes and smoked vodka
I love it when a restaurant lays on an imaginative drink pairing and this was a terrific one from Ben Cooke at Little Gloster just outside Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
He had entered the dish - a yellow gazpacho made with Isle of Wight tomatoes, horseradish and crème fraîche topped with a crostino with mozzarella and oak-smoked tomato into a competition run by Chase Vodka - the Chase Smoky Mary - and won it.
The dish was strongly flavoured enough to carry the powerful flavour of the smoked vodka which was served as a frozen shot. It paired particularly well - as you might expect - with the smoked tomato.
It was only because it was such a good pairing that it pushed aside the other combination I might have made my match of the week - also at Little Gloster: a Ciu Ciu Le Merlettaie pecorino* with a starter of skordalia, grilled aubergines and courgettes. Garlicky dips are great with crisp fresh zesty whites. A Greek assyrtiko would have worked too.
*You can buy the 2014 vintage from The Good Wine Shop at £11.50 at the time of writing.
I ate at Little Gloster as a guest of the restaurant.
Pasta with pesto and Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi
This past week has reminded me yet again what a great match Italian whites are for food. Their lack of obvious character means they tend not to stand out in a tasting but they explode into life with a dish.
The first pairing, I’ve already mentioned in my review of the River Café - Poggio al Tesoro Vermentino Solosole 2007 was just the perfect fresh foil for a salad of Castelluccio lentils , ricotta di Bufala and chilli but I equally enjoyed a pairing I tried at home of a 2007 Loretello Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi from Cantine Politi (from Vino in Topsham) with a plate of spaghetti with fresh home-made pesto (the classic kind with basil rather than one of the more inventive new variations).
I personally find pesto goes much better with whites than with reds which it seems to coarsen. Gavi di Gavi is another good match.
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