Cold rare fillet of beef and Cinsault

Given that it’s been in the mid-30s in the Cape Winelands recently it’s not surprising the local prefer their beef cold rather than hot but that also requires a change of thinking - from full-bodied to lighter reds.

The wine I’ve been finding hits the spot perfectly is Cinsault (or Cinsaut as it’s sometimes spelt) a traditional Cape grape variety that’s being given a new lease of life producing wines that are more like Beaujolais in style

The one that prompted this post was the 2014 Hinterland Cinsaut from Blackwater - a beautifully pristine, fresh, fragrant young wine that went perfectly with a beef fillet marinated (I would guess) with garlic and herbs, simply seared, cooled and served rare.

Cabernet Franc is another good candidate for cold roast beef as I discovered at Warwick as of course is pinot noir but we haven’t been in pinot country for the last couple of days. Good tip to remember for summer!

Image © koss13 on fotolia.com

Cheese, pear chutney and Jurançon

This might not have been the best match of the week - that honour goes to the turbot and orange wine pairing I experienced at Ellory which I’ve already written up here - but it’s the one that’s easiest to replicate at home.

It was at a swish new Bristol restaurant called Adelina Yard which does what must be one of the best fixed price lunch deals in the country. Three brilliant courses for just £15.

I went with my friend wine writer Susy Atkins so you’d think we’d have done some damage to the wine list but we virtuously decided to have a alcohol-free lunch. Until, that is, I tried the pear chutney that went with the cheese plate and decided it was crying out for a glass of sweet wine.

It’s one you might be unaware of - a sweet Jurançon* from south-west France called Symphonie de Novembre from Domaine Cauhapé, one of my favourite Jurançon producers. Although it was from the 2010 vintage it was still really fresh with lovely lush apricot and passionfruit flavours. A real treat. You can buy it from James Nicholson for £11.99 a half bottle and around £13 from WoodWinters and various other independents. The Wine Society has full-sized bottles of the 2012 for £19.

And the cheeses? I was afraid you were going to ask me that. I can’t remember to be honest, we were yammering so much. But they included (I think) a goats cheese, an Ubriaco, a Pecorino and a Shropshire Blue. But the chutney was the real inspiration**.

*Sweet Jurancon is just labelled Jurançon. If it’s a dry wine it’s referred to as Jurançon Sec.

** Note, it wasn't a very vinegary chutney which can be a bit brutal for wine. More like a pear compote.

Duck tagine and Moscatel

I certainly feel duck’s status as one of the best ingredients to pair with wine has been enhanced by this week’s match of the week

It was one of the main two courses at the latest session of the monthly wine club I’m running with Itamar Srulovich and his wife Sarit at Honey & Co and as ever with those two was incredibly inventive: basically a duck tagine with clementines and apricots toped with kadaif pastry - an ultra-exotic duck pie for which I hope they’ll at some point give the recipe!

It went well with a number of the full-bodied white wines we tried with it but I particularly liked it with the headily aromatic 2013 De Martino Moscatel Viejas Tinajas from Chile which is aged in clay amphorae (a pairing that makes sense when you think how well duck goes with gewurztraminer). It also went really well with an Austrian Rülander (also an orange wine), an oaked white rioja, a white Crozes Hermitage and - most surprisingly to me - a lush Newton Johnson chardonnay from Hemel-en-Aarde in South Africa

You can currently buy the 2014 vintage of the moscatel from Les Caves de Pyrène at £14.20 a bottle, Joseph Barnes Wines Direct at £15.50 and £15.99 from Handford Wines.

NB We won’t be holding a wine club in February but will be starting a new series in March. If you’d like to know when the dates and themes are confirmed send your email address to events@matchingfoodandwine.com and we’ll put you on our mailing list.

My 20 best wine (and other drink) pairings of 2015

As you may know if you visit the site regularly I do a regular match of the week - generally a less obvious pairing I’ve come across that has surprised me as much as it may have surprised you. So which were the best ones that would be worth looking out for or repeating? Here’s my top 20.

Crispy chilli lime squid with edamame bean and coriander salad and pinot gris

January 2015 found me in New Zealand, falling in love with pinot gris rather than the ubiquitous sauvignon blanc. This one came from Brick Bay Winery in Matakana but I tasted some other great wines along the road.

Venison tartare with Mountford’s The Rise Pinot Noir

Also from New Zealand and one of the highlights of the trip a forage and dinner with the winemakers of North Canterbury. Raw venison and aged pinot is an amazing combination

Blood orange and chocolate with Highland Park 12

You don’t often think of pairing a pudding with whisky - at least I don’t - but at L Mulligan Grocer in Dublin they do it all the time. The dish - a combination of candied slices of blood orange, a very short, crumbly ‘double’ chocolate shortcake, dark chocolate mousse, bitter orange purée, oatmeal praline and sea salt caramel was more complicated than it sounded from the menu description but spot on with the Highland Park 12

Frozen milk chocolate and raspberry cake with Rosa Regale Brachetto d’Acqui

And another terrific dessert pairing from the events I was hosting in Dublin for Febvre (I’m there again this February, dates tbc). An ideal wine for a milk chocolate dessert it picked up and bounced off the fresh raspberries

Gorgonzola dolce and La Stoppa Ageno 2005

A surprising combination for a French restaurant but Le Baratin in Paris, which has a largely natural wine list is a rule unto itself. I had a bit of a thing about orange wines last year. This was one of the best.

Asparagus with poached egg, watercress sabayon and Chateau Doisy-Daëne sec

Not a predictable match (to me at least) but a stellar one from wine auction house Bonhams which really showed off a great white Bordeaux. Reminds me to go back there.

Navarin of lamb and Chateau des Estanilles Faugères 2002

Not all my top pairings come from smart restaurants - here’s one from our home in the Languedoc when an old bottle of Faugères hit it off perfectly with a delicate spring stew.

Vermentino and seafood

A bit of a broad brush match but practically everything we ate that was fishy during the Porto Cervo wine festival in Sardinia back in May tasted wonderful with the local Vermentino. (OK, the sun undoubtedly helped!)

Moscato d’Asti and rose macarons

Another standout pairing from a champagne and sparkling wine event I was hosting with cookery writer Thane Prince. Macarons and moscato - who knew? Try it!

Sushi and Sancerre Rouge

I remember someone telling me that red burgundy was great with sushi but remained sceptical until I tried this great combination prepared by sommelier Juli Nakata-Roumet in the Loire this summer. (The wine was a 2012 from Dominique Roger of Domaine du Carrou)

Gosnells Mead and honey-smoked chicken

The much heralded mead revival still struggles to take off but I absolutely loved this combination with honey-smoked chicken at the Manor in Clapham

Bread and butter pudding with apricots and Passito di Pantelleria

Bread and butter pudding is one of the best foils for a good dessert wine especially when It’s as good as this version from chef Paul Heathcote making a guest appearance at the Belmond Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons

Prawn curry with saffron lassi

There are endless debates about whether wine does or doesn’t go with curry but if you’re looking for a non-alcoholic alternative a good answer is a saffron lassi as I discovered at Asma Khan’s Darjeeling Express pop-up

Celtic Promise and cider brandy

You can never have too many good drink pairings for cheese - and often, I find, they’re not wine, as in the case of this 3 year old Somerset Royal cider brandy that hit it off perfectly with the washed rind Celtic Promise.

Apricot tart and Louis Roederer Carte Blanche

It’s easy to overlook sweeter champagnes but they can be the most perfect foil to a simple dessert as I discovered on this visit to Louis Roederer in early September

Tandoori grouse with an Indian 'Super-Tuscan'
Heavily spiced grouse with a full-bodied Indian blend of cabernet and sangiovese? I'd have said it would never work but the team at Trishna proved it could and it did. Never say never!

Glazed bacon ribs and Meursault

Actually it wasn’t so much the ribs but the wickedly creamy parsley sauce that went with them that made the match (repeated the other day, equally successfully with a Margaret River chardonnay).

Mushroom soup and Rignes Polaris Roykbokk

You might think if you’d read this far that I wasn’t a beer drinker but no wine could have bettered this dark, smoky savoury Norwegian bock at To Rom og Kjøkken in Trondheim

Vidal ice wine with feta and honey cheesecake

This certainly vies for the top pairing of the year - maybe the perfect answer to that tricky question of what to drink with cheesecake. One of the highlights of our second Sunday wine club event at Honey & Co.

and finally, roast turkey and Mencia

My new favourite pairing for turkey - hot or cold!