Pairing rosé champagne and dim sum

Is rosé champagne a good match with dim sum? Our roving correspondent Lucy Bridgers retains admirable control of her critical faculties while being plied with successive vintages of Bollinger's Grande Année . . .

Lucy writes: The idea of pairing rosé Champagne and dim sum sounds encouraging. Dim sum usually involves a range of textures and flavours – some very powerful, such as garlic and chilli. As a table wine (ie without any sparkle), dry rosé can be a versatile choice (think how adaptable it is with tapas) and as a sparkling rosé and Champagne in particular, the effervescence has a refreshing and uplifting effect on the palate and it offers a great sense of occasion.

Recently I had the chance to explore this combination at a lunch organised by Bollinger at Yauatcha restaurant in London’s Soho. We were served a selection of vintage rosés. All delicious on their own, but some more successful with the food than others.

We started with La Grande Année Rosé 1995 (magnum) with Chinese chive and prawn dumpling, crystal dumpling wrap, and scallop shui mai. The 1995 had a brick tinged salmon colour and complex aromas of wild strawberries, honey and cream, finishing with an appetising sweet-sour tang – still surprisingly fresh and youthful, despite its maturity. However, with the food, the complexity was masked. The chive and prawn dumpling worked best, as long as you went easy on the chilli dip.

The second wine was La Grande Année Rosé 2002 – fresh, mineral and more tightly structured than the 1995. This was served with soft shell crab, venison puff, and lobster dumpling. It struggled with the strong flavours, getting a bit lost, although it was a fresh and elegant partner to the lobster dumpling. The more concentrated 1995 was a better match for the sweet meat in the venison puff and the soft shell crab which had a lot of chilli heat.

In contrast, La Grande Année Rosé 2004 had more vibrant youthful fruit that worked better with the food. Like the 1995, it had a tasty tangy quality nicely suited to dim sum, especially the dishes with bigger flavours. The menu continued with steamed wild prawn, Szechuan wonton, baked chicken with aubergine, and egg fried rice with long bean. Steering it away from the spicy sauces, the 2004 was particularly good with the prawn, revealing how well it would go with unadorned crustacea. Lobster would be a deliciously luxurious choice for this wine.

As a curiosity, they also served the 2004 and 2009 vintages of their Pinot-based red, Côte aux Enfants. At Bollinger, about 5 percent of this well-coloured, silky wine is used to create the rosé (theirs is a blended rosé, rather than made using the saignée method). The 2004 was good with the meatier dishes such as baked chicken with aubergine (which had a rich, sticky glaze) and Mongolian style venison, one of the final dishes served. (The 2009 is being released later this year and the 2004 came from their library of back vintages). They were interesting to taste, although for the price, smart red burgundy would be a more tempting candidate.

We finished lunch with strawberry yuzu and Bollinger Rosé (non-vintage). This non-vintage rosé had pretty strawberry and raspberry fruit, but was far too dry for the dessert.

Considering the meal as a whole, as long as you tread carefully with the chilli and garlic, rosé Champagne is an indulgent and versatile choice for dim sum.

Lucy Bridgers attended the lunch as a guest of Bollinger.

Graze: food and wine matching at the London Restaurant Festival

If you’re the sort who likes to nick food off your partner’s plate - and even off friends' on the other side of the table (mea culpa) - you’ll love the idea of Graze, this year’s new feature at the London Restaurant Festival this autumn which features six of London’s most foodie streets including Exmouth Market, Bermondsey Street, Brixton Village and Marylebone High Street.

The idea is that you buy a Graze keyring - or two - at £12.50 each or £20 for a pair - then present it for a dish and a matching drink at one of the participating restaurants which should be priced at about £6. There are also weekend passes for Soho

We road-tested four of the six in Exmouth Market including Canteen, Moro, Morito and Medcalf before we gave up, utterly stuffed. The other two are Bincho and La Porchetta.

Morito I think got the prize for the evening not just because it offered two dishes each (I'm not that greedy) but because one of them, a beetroot purée called borani (right) was just so beautiful. (The other was a bowl of deep-fried chitterlings and the wine, a rustic tempranillo). Apparently you can find the recipe in Sam and Sam Clark’s Moro East.

Next door at Moro we were offered a glass of chilled fino with a deconstructed tuna kibbe served on a lettuce leaf like the Thai dish laab (not quite so sure about that one).

Moro is also celebrating its 15th anniversary this month, believe it or not, cooking dishes from the opening menu for three weeks from 23rd July-August 12th including crab brik with harissa and lemon and wood roasted pork with patatas pobres and churrasco sauce Unfortunately I’m going to be away but I still remember being absolutely blown away by the food. It’s hard to recall how revolutionary it was then.

I’d been meaning to go to Medcalf next door for a while so it was good to give it a try - one of the objectives of Graze, I imagine. They offered a great grazing dish of bavette and chips and grilled lamb with beans (right) together with a glass of merlot.

Then back to Caravan, which I’d visited a couple of times before for breakfast but never tried in the evening, for grilled quail with sumac and Casa Lapostolle Pinot. (I note we ate a lot of meat. Maybe it was the weather which was chucking it down. It can’t be worse in October.)

Anyway you can do this for yourself once the Festival begins on October 1st (actually you can buy the keyrings now on the festival website It’s probably also worth signing up for the newsletter so you don’t miss out on some of the other events which from past experience sell out pretty quickly. Especially the ones that involve celebrity chefs.

What Food, What Wine? Indian: which type of wine pairs best with a curry

A lot of people still think that wine isn’t a good match with spicy food but our final session of What Food, What Wine? judging this week suggested that there’s no reason for winelovers to throw in the towel. The success (or otherwise) of the pairings did however depend on the heat of the curries and how ‘wet’ or dry they were.

We had four to consider - a chicken korma, a lamb rogan josh, a chicken tikka masala (which appeared in last year’s line up) and stir fried prawns with tanjore spices, the signature dish of the Cinnamon Kitchen in the City where the judging took place. (Amazing - you can find the recipe here)

The situation was slightly unreal in that we had each dish separately with boiled rice whereas in many restaurants a range of different dishes would have been put on the table at once along with sides like raita and chutney. But it was the most comprehensive attempt I’ve witnessed to find out which style of wines suits which type of curry and produced some fascinating insights.

Shop-bought or home-made?

There’s a big difference between inexpensive supermarket curries and a good takeaway or homemade recipe using freshly ground spices and fresh herbs. The prawn dish was far more aromatic and complex - and subsequently more challenging to match. I’m sticking my neck out here but I’d say on the strength of this tasting that it’s probably only worth spending over £10 on a bottle with a subtly spiced dish, served Western-style on its own - as you get in high end restaurants.

Consider the protein

If the basic ingredient has a prominent flavour it can dictate the match, despite the style of the dish. For instance lamb has much more influence on a pairing (inclining you towards a red) than chicken where it’s the sauce that’s all important

Beware whole spices ...

A rogue chilli or whole cardamom can really blow your wine out of the water. Fresh, well-sourced whole spices will be more powerful than mass-produced ground ones

...and heat build-up

Spicing plays havoc with the palate in ways you don’t quite anticipate. It can anaethetise the palate to an extent but with some dishes there was a slow build of heat making each mouthful taste progressively spicier. Which is where cooling raita comes in ....

So which style of wine pairs best?

Judging by the wines we tried a fruity rosé is the best all rounder - a good default choice when you’re in an Indian restaurant.

White wines - even aromatic ones - are trickier than you might think. Sauvignon Blanc in particular is not the success it tends to be with other dishes. A touch of sweetness certainly helps as does a touch of minerality, according to the Cinnamon Kitchen’s group wine buyer Laurent Chaniac who was one of the judges. Gewurztraminer can be great but doesn’t go with everything.

Reds can work particularly if they’re lightly chilled but they need to be quite soft without intrusive tannins. Unless you’re a chilli thrillophile you don’t want to ramp up the heat with a load of spicy oak.

Personally I’m dying to see the results. I’ll link to them as soon as they’re published.

I should make clear that I am a senior (paid) judge on What Food What Wine but they haven't asked or commissioned me to write this and the previous post which represent my views and not theirs!

Some food and wine pairing tips from What Food What Wine? 2012

I’ve just spent the past two days at What Food What Wine? tasting wine alongside dishes as disparate as smoked salmon and apple crumble, Stilton and steak and lasagne and lamb - a bit of an assault on the palate (and stomach!) but one of the best ways to work out what wine really works with your favourite recipes

It’s the second year of this groundbreaking competition which is fronted by popular TV presenters (and husband and wife) Susie and Peter of Saturday Kitchen. The big difference is that while the food may not be exactly the same as you’d serve it at home (roast turkey without sprouts and spuds? You must be joking!) the dishes have been devised by a proper home cook (TV chef Jo Pratt).

You’ll have to wait until the end of next month to find out which bottles we voted the trophy winners but in the meantime here are a few general observations and tips you might find useful:

* More expensive wines don’t necessarily make better food matches. Our judging categories were divided into under £10 and over £10 wines and sometimes the under £10 pairings were just as good

* Some classic wine matches stand the test of time, for instance roast lamb with Bordeaux-style reds and sweet or fortified wines with Stilton. On the other hand there are always new discoveries to be made - for instance how well Sauvignon Blanc pairs with smoked salmon. As good as champagne!

* Steak is not the breeze that everyone thinks it is. You really need to think about how it’s cooked. Serving it rare will smooth the rough edges off a rustic red or a very full-bodied tannic young wine which might taste a bit overpowering with a medium to well-done piece of meat. Lay off the ketchup if you don’t want to complicate things further - or at least leave it until you’ve tasted the wine with the steak

* In fact it always pays to taste a dish with a wine before you add extra seasoning or sauces. A citrussy white can do the same job as a squeeze of lemon, as we discovered with the fish and chips category.

* “You don’t want tannin with turkey” - a good observation from wine consultant Angela Mount. Think fruit, not oak when you come to buy your Christmas red - though an oaky white can conversely work quite well

* Wine pairings can have a different effect. Some will echo flavours and textures in a wine like the orangey dessert wine we tried with the Christmas pudding (yes, we had that too!). Others may provide a lighter, more refreshing contrast. It depends how adventurous you - and your guests - are. Complementary pairings tend to be less challenging than contrasting ones.

*There are always fascinating new discoveries to be made such as this year’s discovery that umami-rich parmesan can make some wines - whites in particular - taste almost sweet

* A home-made dish may need a slightly different wine from a shop-bought one. For example Jo’s delicious mushroom risotto had a strong flavour of porcini that proved a great match for Pinot Noir. A lighter, creamier one might pair better with a Chardonnay. If you want to get the best out of the award-winning wines use the recipes on the site (no great hardship there!)

I should make clear that I am a senior (paid) judge on What Food What Wine and that we have reciprocal links so obviously have an interest in its success. But I honestly think they're doing a terrific job in taking food and wine matching forward.