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Must grouse wine matches be classic?

Must grouse wine matches be classic?

I’m always in two minds about whether to write about the beginning of the grouse season. After all only a tiny number of people will be sufficiently interested - or well-heeled - to bag the first birds that arrive on restaurant tables this evening.

However grouse will feature on menus over the next few weeks and I’ve been rethinking my recommendations. Up to now my view has been that grouse is such an expensive luxury that it deserves a venerable bottle of top red burgundy or Bordeaux. "I'd go for a burgundy like a Chambolle-Musigny but a mature red Bordeaux or a Côte Rôtie would be equally delicious" was what I wrote a couple of years ago.

But the fact is that most chefs now cook grouse as rare as roast beef and I’m not sure that a younger bottle of the same type of wine mightn’t be better with the season’s first birds. And that could easily be pinot from less traditional areas such as Central Otago and Martinborough in New Zealand, Australia’s Mornington Peninsula or Yarra Valley, Oregon or from California’s Anderson or Russian River Valleys whose wines often outperform mediocre burgundies. Or a vivid young syrah rather than a venerable one. Just because you’re paying a fortune for your bird doesn’t mean you should necessarily pay over the odds for your wine, especially if you're eating out.

Later in the season when grouse gets gamier you might want to reach for more complex wines - the Domaine Tempier Bandol I wrote about a while back would be fabulous but younger less expensive southern French mourvèdres would be fine too. And last year I successfully paired it with a dark brambly Georgian Saperavi.

I found restaurateur Tim Hart of Hambleton Hall in Rutland was with me on the mature mourvèdre front but was still basically a burgundy man "The same whether it’s August or November" So is cookery Rowley Leigh who used to offer a special selection of burgundies 'at prices way below normal margins' at his former restaurant Le Cafe Anglais because, he said, 'we heartily believe in drinking Burgundy with grouse'.

Henry Harris, formerly of Racine in Knightsbridge was prepared to concede "there might be some difference in a couple of weeks as the birds get more fragrant and the heather seems stronger" but was still inclined to stick to France. "Day one an elegant Bordeaux, as the season progresses a Rhône."

So, there you go. Maybe I’m now out on a limb but if you’re lucky enough to be having grouse more than once I’d try it both ways.

If you want to have a go at grouse yourself there's a great recipe here from Bristol chef Stephen Markwick with whom I collaborated on A Well-Run Kitchen.

Photo © Robin Stewart at shutterstock.com

A perfect wine for cheese. A perfect cheese for wine

A perfect wine for cheese. A perfect cheese for wine

While I can usually find a great match for an individual cheese or for a careful selection it’s always a struggle to find a wine - particularly a red - that will take on all-comers. But I was reminded this weekend just how good a candidate mature Zinfandel is for this job. We found a bin end of Ridge’s Geyserville 2000 on the wine list of one of our favourite local restaurants at such a good price that we couldn’t resist it.

With its velvety-soft blackberry fruit it went pretty well with everything we had ordered (a selection of small plates including some squid in red wine sauce with orange gremolata which added ammunition to my orange and red wine theory) but was outstandingly good with the cheese - a wedge of Fougerus, an unpasteurized Brie-style cheese from the Seine-et-Marne region of Northern France, a wedge of 10 month old Manchego and a wedge of Cashel Blue from Ireland. The trickiest pairing was the Fougerus but one of the accompaniments on the plate, a pickled fig, destined I think to offset the Cashel Blue really helped. (There was also some membrillo (quince paste), the classic accompaniment for Manchego and a little salad of radicchio and walnuts)

The whole experience really underlined how much better mature reds are than young tannic ones with cheese and how much a careful selection of accompaniments helps. Incidentally Geyserville is not pure Zin but also contains Carignan, Petite Sirah and Mataro (Mourvèdre) - the latter particularly interesting as I think Bandol is another excellent match with cheese.

My other recent discovery was an obscure semi-hard Gouda-style sheeps cheese I found in our local health food shop. It’s made by a Dutch-born couple in Aberdeenshire who call themselves Mains of Shevado. It’s very dry, almost crystalline, but quite mellow without the aggressive ‘bite’ that can cause such problems with red wine. It was perfect with an accompanying Malbec but would clearly have rubbed along easily with other medium to full-bodied reds. Authentic mature goudas and mature parmesan will do a similar job.

 

The tricky task of pairing wine and citrus

This is the perfect time of year for buying oranges and lemons but what effect do they have on the recipes you’re making? Quite a marked one, if truth be told. Lemons in particular have a high level of acidity which will make any wine you drink with them taste sweeter. If that’s counterbalanced in the recipe by sugar as in a lemon tart or lemon meringue pie, for example, the result is a dish that’s really quite hard to match.

LEMON

Many wines have some citrus notes in them of course but I find the lemon flavours in the dish are usually stronger. So a lemony chicken or pasta dish, for example, can make a citrussy Sauvignon Blanc taste flat. Or, if it holds its own, can unbalance the dish by creating an overload of citrus flavours.

Surprisingly the answer is often to pick a red, particularly a red with marked acidity of its own. The Italians do that instinctively when they reach for a bottle of Valpolicella with a spaghetti al limone or squeeze lemon over a bistecca alla fiorentina and pair it with a tannic Chianti. The acid in the fruit subdues the acid in the wine. Lamb cooked with lemon and herbs tastes great with a rustic red. I’ve even found oak-aged Spanish reds such as Rioja reserva taste good with a chicken and lemon tagine.

There are occasions when red doesn’t ‘feel right’ though, especially with seafood and here I find a neutral Italian or Spanish white can work well - something like an earthy Verdicchio, an Albariño or Spain’s up and coming white Godello. A good Pinot Grigio can also do the trick.

Intensely lemony desserts are harder as you have to contend with both acid and sweetness, qualities you need to find in any wine you choose. I find top quality late-harvest Riesling does the job best but even then it’s a struggle. Some advocate ice wine but that can add to the intensity of an already intensely flavoured dish. I still have to find a perfect solution - mint tea, maybe. Or perhaps one of the orangey liqueurs mentioned below - orange and lemon being natural bedfellows. (Though I'm not sure it would work the other way round - Limoncello with an orange-flavoured dessert.)

With a lighter lemon dessert like a souffl or mousse a sweet sparkling dessert wine like Asti or Clairette de Die generally works well.

ORANGE

Orange is easier and more forgiving. I’ve noticed a lot of chefs putting orange into savoury dishes this winter and it almost always enhances the match with an accompanying red wine. Usually they’re meat-based such as the tagliatelle with duck livers, trompettes de la mort, orange and marjoram I had recently (ideal with a Barbera) but I’ve also had a couple of robust fish dishes with orange such as sea bream with hazelnut crust, fennel, chard, orange zest, capers and parsley and braised squid with fennel where a Mediterranean red also proved a good match. (Syrah, Mourvèdre and Tempranillo all seem to pair well with orange)

With lighter dishes such as some lightly cooked fish with a salad of fennel and orange I’d go for a light, lush white with some acidity such as a Semillon or Semillon-Sauvignon blend, in the latter case one without too many herbaceous notes. A fruity Australian Colombard can also work well with chicken dishes that are flavoured with orange.

With orange-flavoured desserts, one’s instinct is to think of matching orange flavoured wines such as an Orange Muscat but I tend to find that the orange in the dish wipes out the orange in the wine. For orange-flavoured cakes and richer puddings I find sweet - even cream - sherry a great match. With lighter dishes such as an orange fruit salad try a Champagne - or Cava - cocktail or a frozen shot of Cointreau (also a good match in dishes where chocolate and orange are paired together).

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