Stir-fried lobster, egg white and scallop mousse with Chateau Fombrauge Bordeaux Blanc 2009

A standout combination from the Hong Kong Tourist Board lunch at Bordeaux’ annual wine festival Fête le Vin last week. It was also the standout dish, a finely worked assembly of delicate flavours and textures from Chef Man Sing Lee of the Mandarin Oriental.

It would have been easy to overwhelm it with a more powerfully oaked white Bordeaux like the Château Pérenne 2010 which accompanied a cold starter of crab with mushrooms, seaweed and a sesame and citrus dressing but the lusher, lighter Fombrauge added a lovely fresh, citrussy lift.

The meal also contained one of the most bizarre wine matches - and desserts - I’ve ever come across - a couple of coconut coated marshmallow rabbits which were paired with a full-bodied (14%) 2006 Magrez Fombrauge 2006 Saint Emilion Grand Cru.

It wasn’t as much of a mismatch as I thought it was going to be - the dessicated coconut managed to marginally offset the tannins - but it was definitely a case of ‘you could but why would you?’ Maybe I’m missing a significant cultural reference here but it’s not even year of the rabbit.

 

 

 

 

Young red rioja and menestra (Spanish vegetable stew)

Of all the great food and wine pairings I experienced in Rioja last week this was the most unexpected.

We were being taught how to make one of my favourite Spanish dishes menestra at Bodegas Beronia - a complicated vegetable stew that involves practically every seasonal local vegetable including cardoons, chard, cauliflower, onions, peas and artichokes (though each cook has his/her own version)

You’d think the last thing that would go with it - and particularly the artichokes - would be their vividly fruity 2010 special production Rioja tempranillo but quite the contrary. it just sang with the mildly flavoured dish.

I think it was probably a combination of things - the acidity of the wine* and the fact that it was quite dry together with the fact that the vegetables had been cooked for so long (2-3 hours) and that more tricky-to-match vegetables had lost their aggressive edge. And the oil. Always in Spain the olive oil ....

* the fact that it came from the 2010 vintage may have helped too - not quite as lush a vintage as the 2009.

Layered tomato and egg salad with Verdejo

One of the advantages of BYO is that you can have a stab at matching your wine to the menu. Particularly when you know exactly what each course will be. But sometimes the description is a bit vague as in Saturday’s ‘layered salad’ at the Montpelier Basement supper club in Bristol.*

It turned out to be a delicious French-style ‘verrine’ - a layer of fresh tomato salad, egg mayonnaise and a topping of pea-shoots which perfectly suited the crisp, citrussy 2010 Tresolmos Verdejo we’d brought with us (currently on the 2011 vintage from The Wine Society). A Sauvignon Blanc would have worked equally well - perhaps surprisingly. You wouldn't normally think of Verdejo or Sauvignon with egg.

The Verdejo also sailed through the second course of pan-fried mackerel in oats and piccalilli vegetables - a lightly pickled salad of crunchy veg including cucumber, carrot and cauliflower.

Interestingly the other wine we’d taken along - a really lovely 2008 grand cru riesling from René Muré didn’t match as well with either despite the fact that it was dry by Alsace standards. Though it was unexpectedly good with the warm cheesy biscuits that were served at the beginning of the meal which accentuated its fresh apple notes.

It all goes to show that, just as with cooking, there are always new combinations to be discovered with food and wine pairing.

* Sadly this was the last supper at 'The Basement' as its proprietors Elly and Dan are moving on. But they will be hosting other events in the future.

Cold sesame noodles and weissbier

Thanks to my friend Signe Johansen of Scandilicious I finally got to Koya in Frith Street the other day - London’s food bloggers most popular noodle haunt and the winner of last year’s Observer Food Monthly’s Best Cheap Eats award.

It was a hot day (unusually for this summer) so cold noodles appealed and I had this amazing dish of Zaru Gomadare, thick udon noodles with a sesame sauce, cucumber salad and turnip pickle. That seemed a big ask for any wine to tackle (although a trusty Grüner Veltliner would probably have coped) so I picked the weissbier that was on offer - which embarrassingly I failed to note at the time. No matter - any similar German or German-style beer would be an equally good pairing

Its citrus and banana notes and slight touch of sweetness were perfect with the sesame sauce which I’m still wondering how to amalgamate with the noodles for my next visit. (Unable to dunk the thick slithery noodles in the sauce like any self-respecting Japanese I ended up pouring it over them and making the most ungodly mess.)

They also have a decent sake list so I’m guessing that sake would have been a good pairing too.