Rabbit ballotine with Domaine Lucci Wildman Pinot Noir

If i'm asked what my favourite wine is I usually say I don't have one as there are always moments when I fancy one wine more than anything else. But Pinot Noir has to be up there, especially a glorious, hedonistic Pinot like this Domaine Lucci Wildman Pinot which is one of the most delicious wines I've tasted all year*.

It doesn't look much admittedly. It's a natural wine so it's unfiltered and slightly cloudy with a pale almost brownish tinge to it that almost looks as if someone's poured a dash of milky tea into the glass. But the aroma and flavour are just sensational - sweet, scented, heady, silky - everything you expect from great red burgundy.

The match was at a natural wine dinner at Bell's Diner which was presented by my husband, a great natural wine aficionado. He suggested rabbit as the ideal match to the chef Chris Wicks and he came up with this delicious ballotine, stuffed with walnut and ginger and served with carrot, wild mushrooms and a pure-tasting not excessively sweet plum pure which provided the link to the dish. (Apologies for the very blurry photo.)

Like duck, rabbit is a pretty sure-fire match for Pinot.

*available for £22.80 a bottle by the case (mixed or unmixed) from Les Caves de Pyrne and £30 from Bottle Apostle.

Robiola, chestnut honey and sweet vermouth

Vermouth probably isn't the first thing you would think of pairing with cheese but this combination I enjoyed at our local wine bistro Flinty Red in Bristol the other night was just dazzling.

The cheese, a Robiola della Valle Belbo had just been brought back from Piedmont by the chef Matt Williamson along with some chestnut honey that our waiter said had a slightly bitter edge.

We thought it might overwhelm the dessert wines on their list so went for a Moscato-based vermouth, Bonme from a Barolo and Barbaresco producer called Poderi Colla.

In fact the honey was milder than we thought and the cheese quite delicately fresh and moussey but they still worked perfectly with the fragrant, slightly herbal vermouth.

You can read more about riobiolo on Wikipedia and the Bonme on the Poderi Colla website here. Interestingly they recommend it with strong, piquant cheeses, such as natural gorgonzola, or herb- and spice-flavoured cheeses.

If you enjoy vermouth you might also be interested to read my recent Guardian feature here.

Joue de boeuf and a rich Roussillon red

I've been in Paris for the last few days so this week's pairing had to be from here. There are so many possibilities but as I haven't written about a meat match for a while I'm going to pick the braised beef cheek and vegetables we had with a quirky wine called KM31 from the Roussillon.

Beef cheek or joue de boeuf as it's called here seems to be one of the most fashionable main courses in Paris at the moment, judging by the menus we've been reading but I doubt if anywhere does it as well as Le Baratin, a natural wine bistro in the 20th just off the rue de Belleville. (You can see my review here). Normally if it's cooked until it's falling apart - as it should be - it's quite soft but this had the most amazing rich crust - presumably by popping it in a hot oven again before serving it. There was also a subtle touch of vinegar in the dish and some fresh tasting seasonal vegetables which added a welcome lightness to the dish

The wine was a warm, generous blend of Grenache and Carignan blend from the 2009 vintage from a mad Roussillon winery called Domaine YoYo. A natural wine but not a weird one, in case you're worried. Just perfect with the rich, beefy flavour of the meat and also pretty good with the joue de veau that I ordered. They like their cheeks in Paris ;-)

Celeriac, celery and caerphilly soup with Coteau des Treilles Anjou blanc

It's always difficult to decide what to drink with soup - one liquid with another never seems quite right as I've remarked before - but the thicker the soup is the easier it is.

This was a smooth rich vegetable soup made from celeriac and celery with a little finely sliced Gorwydd Caerphilly and a good slosh, I would guess, of double cream.

It was a brilliant foil for a sumptuous barrel-aged organic Chenin Blanc, the 2008 Pithon-Paillé Coteau des Treilles which had the opulence of a great white burgundy. Pithon Paill is a partnership between Jo Pithon and Joseph and Wendy Paillé who act as négociants sourcing fruit from different parts of the Loire. The Coteau des Treilles is their own vineyard of which there is a very good account on Chris Kissack's site here.

You can buy it - and the '09 vintage from Caves de Pyrène for £28.70. Smiling Grape sells the '09 for £34.99. (So top white burgundy prices too, then.)