Tandoori grouse and an Indian ‘SuperTuscan’

If you’d asked me a week ago whether I thought it was a good idea to cook grouse in a tandoor oven and then to serve it with a full-bodied red I’d have said no, and no. Which shows how you can continually be surprised by this food and wine pairing lark.

The dish was one we couldn’t resist trying at Trishna where Itamar Srulovich of Honey & Co and his wine buyer Dee and I had gone to hammer out the final details of our pop-up wine school this autumn. (Gratuitous plug. More details here)

Grouse is such an expensive delicacy it seems on the face of it mad to smother it in spices but the team at Trishna (who also own the much-fêted Gymkhana in Mayfair) know what they’re doing. In fact they have an awesome-looking game menu there that is matched with some really interesting wines.

The red - a 2010 blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet called Sette - is made by Fratelli, a collaboration between an Indian family-owned winery and Tuscan winemaker Piero Masi. I would have predicted that it would have been much too intense and full-bodied to accompany the grouse but how wrong I was. The rare meat and spices soften the tannins of the wine making it taste fabulously velvety.

Impressively Trishna pairs every dish on the menu with an accompanying wine. They recommend the 2013 Kloof Street Swartland Rouge from South African producer, Mullineux with the dish which would also be interesting.

Apricot tart and Louis Roederer Carte Blanche

After two days in the Jura and 24 hours in Champagne it was harder than usual to come up with just one match this week* but I’m going for this combination of apricot tart and Louis Roederer’s demi-sec champagne Carte Blanche because it’s one you can reasonably easily replicate at home.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the demi-sec style as the higher dosage (added sugar) is often an excuse for an inferior product but really loved the delicately honeyed style of Roederer’s version. With a not-too-sweet tart where the emphasis was on the fruit it was a really delicious match.

It’s also relatively affordable for a grande marque: £32.99 online at Ministry of Drinks, £36.95 at The Whisky Exchange which also has a shop near Borough Market and £37.50 at Hedonism in Berkeley Square. (As with most champagnes prices vary quite a bit so shop around for the current best offer.)

*One of the other highlights was an old favourite, Vin Jaune and Comté - I’ve updated my list of Comté pairings here.

Celtic Promise and cider brandy

The hardest cheeses to match are washed rind cheeses - those stinky, orange rinded ones like Epoisses - but last week I found a new pairing: a 3 year old cider brandy.

It was in a great little cheese shop which has been opened in Bayswater by Rhuaridh Buchanan, the guy who used to run the Paxton & Whitfield's maturing rooms. Most of the cheeses he sells go to London’s top restaurants but he sells a limited amount, which he matures himself, from the shop. You can sample them on the spot round the small café table - there’s a small selection of wines, beers and spirits on display you can order by the glass.

Celtic Promise is a cows’ cheese which is made by John Savage of Caws Teifi in Ceredigion in West Wales to a Caerphilly recipe and is washed in cider. Although it’s not massively stinky - at least this one wasn’t - it's rich enough to defeat most wines, particularly reds, but the young brandy - a fresh, appley 3 year old from the Somerset Cider Brandy Company - was just perfect. The company’s Kingston Black aperitif would work too as, of course, would a young Calvados.

Cheeseburgers and cabernet

Last night we went round to some new friends and they made the most delicious home-made burgers.

I’d emailed beforehand to ask what we’d be eating so we could bring along an appropriate wine and when I discovered it was burgers immediately thought of cabernet sauvignon.

We took two, a dark, damsony 2012 HIP Sagemoor Farmers Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from Hedges Family Estate in Washington State’s Columbia Valley and a 2008 Uitkyk Carlonet 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stellenbosch which was surprisingly brighter and juicier despite its greater age.

Apart from a well-judged amount of cheese the burgers were simply topped with tomatoes and pickled cucumber and no raw onion (a definite plus from the point of view of the wine). We thought the Uitkyk, which is pronounced 8-cake in case you’re wondering, was marginally the better match but they were both thoroughly enjoyable. Quality cab is as good a match with a burger as it is with a steak.

By the way the Uitkyk came from our personal wine stocks but you can buy the 2010 vintage from Fareham Cellar for £10.99. The HIP Cabernet was a sample from Roberson and costs £16.95

Photo © badmanproduction