Venison and Cot (Malbec)

The most successful wine pairing from a tasting I hosted on behalf of Touraine wines the other day was not the expected sauvignon and goats cheese or even fish and chips but a rich gamey dish of venison with a robust Cot, the name by which Malbec is known in the Loire.

You might think that Loire reds tend to be on the light side and that’s generally true but this wine, Henry Marionnet Vinifera 2010 (13.5% and £10.95 from the Wine Society), was really robust and smoky itself with quite a touch of funk. It was made from ungrafted vines which gave it a particularly intense character.

It would also match, I reckon, with gamey pheasant or pigeon dishes, mixed game casseroles and pies and with offal, especially kidneys. Probably stinky cheeses too - a pairing the Wine Society also seems to favour.

It goes to prove my theory that there’s always an unexpected and exciting find in any food and wine tasting you do.

Photo © Jeanne Horak-Druiff of CookSister

Seafood pizza and medium-dry cider

The cider revival continues to gather momentum - and this time it’s with food. Of course cider has always been popular in summer but this year there seem to be many more well-made 'craft' ciders around - not just the latest raft of fruit flavoured fizzy drinks.

I came across this pairing at a new cider house called The Stable in my home town of Bristol. They also serve really good crisp-based pizzas including one topped with prawns, smoked salmon and smoked mackerel* (The Avonmouth Angler) which gave the pizza a lovely smoky flavour.

A crisp, clean, appley cider (Wilkins Farmhouse cider) was the perfect refreshing contrast.

We so often think of beer as the ideal pairing for pizza but cider can be just as good a match.

* (Apologies for the fuzzy picture. Put it down to the cider . . . )

Shake Shack burger and 2008 Quintarelli Primofiore

About the last thing you'd expect at the launch of a new burger joint is to be served a £59 bottle of wine. But then Danny Meyer, more famous for his New York fine dining spots, is no ordinary restaurateur.

And if he's asking whether I'd like to try his Quintarelli Primofiore, a premium blend of Corvina and Cabernet, with one of his Shake Shack burgers, well, who am I to refuse?

It was great with the burgers as you’d expect, the fresh acidity providing a perfect counterpoint to the juicy meat and gooey cheese. One of those matches which is more than the sum of its parts.

Surprisingly the wine was not just there for the launch but actually appears on the Shake Shack drinks list along with a selection of more affordable reds including a Malbec and a Zinfandel.

The burger I liked best though - and suspect I'll end up going back for - was the ‘shroom burger - a decadent, deep fried, portabella mushroom stuffed with cheese. (Though obviously not on a 'fast day'.) That would pair well with the Quintarelli too but I think I'd settle for the rather more modest Shack Red which is made for the chain by California winery Frog's Leap. Or, even better, a shake or a float . . .

If you can't face the queues at Shake Shack (which is in the piazza in Covent Garden) just try the same combination at home. A classic cheeseburger and an Italian red. It works.

Sake and food pairing: Chilean seabass hobayaki with warm daiginjo sake

I was always taught the best sakes were served chilled but the other evening at London's Sake no Hana I got to taste a super-premium daiginjo sake at room temperature with a dish of grilled Chilean seabass and it matched perfectly.

It was part of a menu that is served as part of the restaurant’s new Introduction to Sake course* which has been devised by Hakkasan’s head wine buyer Christine Parkinson and wine writer and sake enthusiast Anthony Rose.

I’ll be writing more about the course which starts this month* but just wanted to highlight this pairing of a very delicate, fragrant clean-tasting Tamagawa ‘Kinsho’ daiginjo sake made (very surprisingly) by a British brewer Philip Harper for the Kinoshita brewing company with a piece of grilled Chilean seabass with white miso.

The sake was served warm and chilled but interestingly the warmer version was, I thought, the better match with this hot savoury dish. (And the chilled version with the sushi that followed it although it’s not traditional, as I understand it, to serve sake with rice-based dishes.)

Sake is a natural pairing for umami-rich Japanese dishes like this.

*The half day courses will take place once a month on Saturday mornings and include a tasting followed by lunch at the sushi counter for £60 per person. For dates check out the restaurant website.