How food can make your wine shine

I have no evidence for it but I’m sure that the vast majority of wine that people buy is bought to drink with food. Yet most of the wine that’s tasted or presented to journalists and bloggers is shown on its own.

As I conceded in my first post on showing off your wine that may be the only practical way. Some journalists - the ones who write purely about wine - don’t want the distraction of food and food smells, as Andrew Jefford made clear in his Decanter post, Lunch is not a Story. But some do, especially those of us who write about food. And it seems to me wine producers, importers and retailers are missing a trick.

An imaginative choice of food or an unexpected meal can make your wine stand out. I admired the chutzpah of Robert Rolls a while back choosing to host a lunch with one of their producers Hubert Lignier in the middle of Burgundy week. A well chosen venue (The small first floor dining room at the Quality Chop House), simple French food (home-made paté and lamb chops) and the chance to taste some older vintages made this a memorable occasion and put Rolls on the radar for me. And how much more convivial it was than spending a couple of hours standing and spitting which provides only a fleeting chance to talk to producers.

Then there was the lunch at Bodegas Beronia where a great home cook came in to make a lunch of typical Riojan dishes including the fabled menestra and milk fed lamb giving us a real feel for the local food and the unexpected discovery that a dish with artichokes can be delicious with a young red.

Drinking sherry with Sam Hart of Fino and Javier Hidalgo in Sanlucar a couple of years ago reinforced something I admittedly knew from a previous visit - that sherry shouldn’t be limited to tapas and that that manzanilla makes a great match for a whole range of fish and shellfish. The message to take away from that? A Friday night bottle of fino or manzanilla would be great with your fish and chips.

And I doubt many wine journalists would be writing about McGuigan had they not gone into partnership with chef John Torode and produced an enticing selection of recipes with which to pair their wines. And Nederburg have recently set up a similar partnership with TV presenter Jimmy Doherty.

Alright for some, you might say, with a lavish budget to spend but bringing food into the equation doesn’t need to be expensive or involve a pricey restaurant. It could be a simple matter of offering 4-6 canapés at the end of a tasting to show how your key wines work with different dishes and ingredients. Or, for wine merchants, taking a couple of local press and influencers to a local Chinese or Thai restaurant and playing about with some different wine styles.

You might also ask yourself if you can afford not to show your wine with food particularly if they’re the sort of wines that don’t stand out in a line-up or the shouty ‘look at me’ kind that win wine competitions. Or if they’re tannic young wines like Barolo which may be unforgiving on their own.

Obviously it’s difficult for wine shops to prepare food on site unless they double as a deli but there’s no reason why products at ambient temperature like chocolate, charcuterie or cheese shouldn’t be served, especially if you can persuade a producer to come along and hand out samples. Or even charge a nominal amount for a ‘sip and a snack’, refundable if you buy a bottle to discourage freeloaders. Many wines would taste better for it.

Another argument against involving food (we’re incredibly good in the UK at finding reasons NOT to do something) is that telling people what to eat with a wine intimidates them. That they should be able to drink whatever they like with the food they like. No rules against that, obviously, but let’s not pretend some matches aren’t more appealing than others.

Would you take the same attitude to food and say ‘you want to serve fried fish with gravy - go for it!’. ‘Top your steak with sliced strawberries? Hell, why not?’ Why not is because most of your customers’ guests wouldn’t enjoy it. And you (the producer or wine merchant) might be able to guide them to something they would find much more pleasurable.

So, to paraphrase Andrew Jefford, lunch can be a story - it depends on the kind of story you’re telling. And for most people food is an entrée to wine, not the other way round.

This article was first published in 2014.

10 offbeat Christmas wine pairings to suggest to your customers

One of the reasons people most appreciate independent wine merchants is that they can talk to them about the kind of wine that will suit the meals or occasions they’re planning.

Although it’s busy Christmas is no exception so here are a few ideas to have up your sleeve . . .

Smoked salmon

Almost everybody thinks smoked salmon is the best match for champagne but unless it’s a canapé or a sandwich there are many other options. Sauvignon blanc - probably their favourite white - is a much better pairing

Seafood cocktail

Many customers are still resistant to riesling but with a seafood cocktail with a tricky-to-match cocktail sauce it really comes into its own. Personally I love the floral style ones from California or Washington state (see this Bonny Doon pairing) but a good Mosel riesling is also wonderfully refreshing

Cold poached salmon

It’s hard to beat chardonnay, admittedly, but what about a Provencal rosé (which will also have the virtue of using up current stock before the 2024 vintage comes in ;-). (For other Provençal rosé pairings see here.)

Turkey

I know you’re going to want to upsell to Chateauneuf but there are so many other handsomely bottled southern Rhône reds, you’ll get kudos for suggesting a cheaper alternative. Like a Lirac for example.

Christmas ham

It’s a struggle to get people to take Beaujolais seriously but a good Morgon does suit a Christmas ham perfectly. And a lighter style is brilliant with the Boxing Day feast. Remember to remind them to serve it lightly chilled.

Goose

Off-dry riesling again may be the best pairing but most people are instinctively going to want a red. Steer them towards an Italian red, preferably a barolo or a Langhe nebbiolo. For more options see here.

Christmas pudding

For many people Sauternes is the automatic go-to for a dessert but with Christmas pudding I’d much rather have a rich, marmaladey Tokaji

Mince pies

There’s more to mince pie pairing than cream sherry, good though that is. Madeira - also good with Christmas cake - would make a nice change, or an Australian ‘tawny’. For more ideas see here.

Panettone

Suggest extra dry prosecco which, as I’m sure you know, is sweeter than brut. Perfect.

Stilton

Everyone is wedded to port but I promise you sloe (or damson) gin is every bit - if not more - delicious. Wouldn’t want Christmas without it.

In praise of bin end clubs

Anyone who buys wine on a regular basis will be familiar with the frustrating experience of discovering undrunk bottles lurking at the bottom of a rack that should in theory be long past their best. They’re too good for everyday drinking yet too uncertain to serve to guests. And if they have survived they may be, frankly, slightly weird. Old wine is not to everyone’s taste.

We were talking about this at dinner with friends and decided we should form a Bin End Club which would meet every couple of months and crack open some of these potential treasures. I should own up that the friends are chefs and restaurant owners who have acquired some pretty special bottles in their time. It wasn’t a case of plunging into a 20 year old bottle of Blossom Hill. But the rule was we would each bring standbys so we didn’t have to drink the undrinkable.

We held our inaugural dinner recently, kicking off with a bottle of 1995 Mumm Cordon Rouge which had survived remarkably well despite the shrunken cork, retaining its fizz and acquiring a delicate honeyed character. It even stood up to a very rich pheasant liver paté Stephen had rustled up from some birds he’d been prepping for a private client.

With the starter of beetroot risotto we cracked open a 2000 Adelaide Hills chardonnay and a 2001 white Chateau Musar. The former had rather lost its balance but the Musar, clearly designed for the long haul, was fantastic - slightly oxidised (as it would have been at the beginning of its life) but perfect with the earthy flavours of the beetroot.

Stephen then upped the ante with a bottle of 1986 Mouton Rothschild he’d been given by a customer - hardly a bin-end for a wine of that quality. Still intense, dark and velvety. The younger Majorcan wine we drank alongside it didn’t have a chance. That was with a simple rustic dish of pot roast partridge, lentils and cabbage - a good foil for an old red.

On a roll by this time we decided to crack a bottle of 1978 Paul Jaboulet Ainé Hermitage with the cheese - which Stephen had sensibly limited to two, a Gorwydd Caerphilly and a Tunworth, neither particularly wine-hostile. Again it was perfect: still full, savoury and gamey.

No dessert, just some boozy cherries in brandy, also a bin end of sorts, which Stephen had made six or seven years ago. We seem to have opened a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Rich Reserve at this point - at least I have a picture of it. I assume we drank it ….

You may of course be thinking - that’s all very well for them but I don’t have wines of this quality but the dinner would have been just as interesting if not quite as just as spectacular if we hadn’t. My experience is that when you dip into old wines there’s a 60% chance that the wine will be drinkable and often much better than you expect. I’ve tasted quite simple Australian reds at 7-8 years that have still been astonishingly vibrant and even generic village Chablis can age 15 years or more.

We plan to meet again in the new year when I’ll be the host. (The idea is that we take it in turns to host the event not so much for the cooking - we share the load - as the daunting amount of glasses to wash up afterwards) I quite fancy restricting it to ‘new world’ wines to see how they fare. As we did this time we’ll restrict the numbers to a maximum of 8 so that everyone gets a taste of each wine. In fact we were six which is even better.

If you set up your own Bin End Club do let me know and tell me what you eat and drink. If you can remember … ;-)

This article was first published in April 2018.

Why Greek wines go with more than just Greek food

Peter Pharos argues that his home country’s wines deserve a place on the table with the world’s most popular cuisines.

Greeks travel. A lot. Depending on who you ask, either Melbourne or Astoria (Queens, NYC) would make the third biggest Greek city – and London Zone 1 is probably not far behind. Greeks also tend to play well with others – these days it seems every other co-patriot of mine has a foreign spouse.

Greek wine, by contrast, is less mobile. Sure, by now most people know Assyrtiko, and Xinomavro is shyly making its first appearances in restaurant wine lists in London. But when it comes to matching it with food, by and large it seems locked in clichés, a last-minute afterthought for Greek and Greek-inspired recipes. This is a shame. The Greek wine of today has the quality and diversity to match a great range of world cuisines – and I am here to prove it to you. So, I invite you to follow me to a food trip around the world, with Greek wines in checked luggage.

10 pairings for Greek wines you probably haven’t thought of

1. Turkey

Imam Bayildi with Naoussa Xinomavro

We’re starting off easy. This is not so much a cross-cultural pairing experiment, as a tip of the hat to our neighbours to the East, the “fainting Imam” being almost as common in Greece as it is in Turkey. Some like to pair it with heavy reds, but when done well (the fried aubergines having absorbed enough extra virgin olive oil, the onions caramelised in cumin and cinnamon) I prefer something sharp and refined to cut through the oiliness of the dish and not obscure the spices. A Naoussa Xinomavro, particularly of the traditional, rustic school such as Kir-Yianni’s Ramnista or Boutari’s Grande Reserve works particularly well.

If you like your wines softer, or you are preparing the dish with a Greek twist, which includes sprinkling feta on top, the newer, more fruit-driven style works well – Thymiopoulos’s take is particularly suitable.

2. Lebanon

Kibbeh with Vlachiko

A classic Levantine dish, this is often paired with Rhône-style blends from Lebanon in restaurants, a combination I find average as the reds are usually muscular and tend to overpower the gentle spices of the kibbeh. Instead, I propose a rare, and admittedly under-the-radar, Greek red variety. Vlachiko (pronounced VLA-hee-ko) is indigenous to Epirus, in the northwest of the country.

It is a cool-climate grape, which most would struggle to recognise as Greek and it is possibly the closest the country has to Burgundian Pinot Noir, though it is more herbal and less tannic. I hold that no winemaker has yet achieved the variety’s potential, but Metsovo-based Katogi Averoff is on to a good start with its Rossiu di Munte. The Glinavos estate blends it with another, even rarer, local variety called Bekari, for a result that is a tad fuller with more pronounced fruit. I would go for the former for more gently-spiced kibbeh, and for the latter with heavier versions.

3. China

Stir Fry with Retsina

This, I realise, will be controversial. Not simply because now we’re getting in true world fusion mode, but also because Retsina remains, unfairly, an object of derision for big parts of the population. I dare say though that the gentle aroma of pine resin not only works excellently with the demanding flavours of Chinese stir fries but is one of the very few wine pairings that truly add something – as opposed to the awkward co-existence that most others seem to achieve.

The new wave of quality Retsina allows for a lot happy experimentation. To get you started, I would go with a Roditis-based one, such as Tetramythos, for tofu and green bean stir fries. Seafood-based stir fries would benefit from the sharper, Assyrtiko-based Retsina elite of Tear of the Pine. For a quirky accompaniment to meat-based stir fries, try a rosé Retsina. Tear of the Pine stablemate Rosa is probably your best bet.

4. Cambodia

Fish Amok with Nychteri

You can find this genius or madness, and I would agree with you either way. Sweet, perfumed dishes such as Fish Amok are notoriously difficult to pair with wine. Step in Nychteri, a high-alcohol wine from Santorini, made with overripe grapes, mostly or exclusively of the Assyrtiko variety. It has tropical fruit and honey notes on the nose and a full body that, to my palate at least, works remarkably well with the coconut milk-based gravy. If you’re worried about the salinity typically associated with Santorini, it’s hardly present; here Assyrtiko manifests itself in intensity, scaling up the gentle spices of the dish. The only downside is the price. This is an expensive wine to make, and the better examples, such as Sigalas’s, can get quite steep. Gavalas offers an alternative, which is more price-friendly, if not dramatically so. Hey, nobody said international summits come cheap.

5. Hong Kong

Dim Sum with Malagousia

I realise that, as Dim Sum has Guangzhou origins, I am cheating a bit and putting China twice here. Hong Kongers would probably argue they have made it their own though, so there. I also realise that purists will say that nothing matches good tea for a proper Dim Sum and I don’t entirely disagree. If, however, you don’t consider it a proper brunch without a good drop, I put forward for your consideration the rising star of the Greek North, Malagousia, especially as represented by Estate Alpha and Malagousia pioneer Gerovassiliou. These elegantly perfumed, light-bodied whites are ideal accompaniments for the cornucopia of seafood and vegetable rolls and dumplings that make a good dim sum, but also work well with various dishes of noodles or rice, particularly lotus leaf. Just keep them away from the pork buns.

6. Japan

Sashimi and Nigiri with Robola

Since Japanese food became a thing in the west in the ‘80s, the whole coterie of premium whites has jostled for a place at the sushi bar. Far be it from me to deny the pleasures of a great white burgundy or the better Alsatians with sashimi…but are we sure they are not overpowering at times? My recommendation is for Cephalonia’s Robola, the Cinderella of the Greek vineyard. A delicate, almost shy, wine with citrus notes on the nose and just a hint of sweetness in the aftertaste, works excellently with the gentler sashimi and nigiri, such as prawn, eel, and sea bream. A rustic take is available from the island’s cooperative, while Gentilini is the leading producer to try. The latter also has a newer, experimental label, Wild Paths, which can take more robust fish such as mackerel and tuna.

7. USA

Barbeque with northern Greece reds

That’s an easy one. Burgers, hot dogs, and steaks, served with rich sides and enjoyed in a relaxed manner, are naturally happy with any robust, generous red. I’m here to suggest that Greece, and northern Greece in particular, does those well too. So, if next time you have a barbeque you want to try something different, and also give a nod to the big Greek-American community, go for a wine which blends Greek varieties with international ones. Ktima Gerovassiliou, Ktima Biblia Chora, and Costa Lazaridis’s Amethystos are all good places to start.

8. Mexico

Fish tacos with Aidani

Baja California’s favourite export is not an easy dish to match with wine. If you try to work to the fish, you’ll fall foul of the sour cream or mayo. If you try to match to the cream, you might overpower the fish - and then there is the lime in the salsa to consider. Enter Santorini native Aidani. Unfairly obscured by its more famous neighbour, it can give exciting wines when vinified well, as demonstrated by local elite Argyros and Sigalas. While lacking the saline majesty of Assyrtiko, these are lively, almost playful, wines, marrying citrus and tropical fruits on the nose with a long, almost sparkling, aftertaste – just the thing for the spicy hit of a good fish taco.

9. England

Fish’n’chips with Mantineia Moschofilero

The story of drink pairing for fish’n’chips can be viewed as a metaphor for England’s increased cosmopolitanism, from ale, to Continental lager, to hoppy IPAs via way of the US. Meanwhile, gastropubs established its potential for wine matching, from Chablis to Cava. Fish’n’chips took it all in tolerance and good humour, maybe because it knows that it’s a bit of a hotchpotch combo itself. In a spirit of resistance to the times, which seem to call for a return to tinned green peas and bitter(ness), I urge you to continue exploring.

My Greek suggestion is Moschofilero, particularly from Mantineia in the Peloponnese. The strong lemon notes are a natural match for fried fish, while its intense acidity is just the thing for cutting through the fat. The finish is crisp, setting you up for the next mouthful. Mantineia is rather consistent across producers, but Tselepos is considered one of the masters. Nassiakos and Antonopoulos have two examples that you will find in many a taverna.

10. Italy

Cantucci with Vinsanto

Wait, I hear you say. Is this some kind of trick? Are you going to claim some Greek heritage to Trebbiano to say it’s all Greek in the end, like a vinous version of the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding? No people. I’m not talking about Vin Santo, but Vinsanto. It’s not that I don’t love the Tuscan version. I do, and I fully see the point of the very slight bitterness that Vin Santo has in its aftertaste when enjoyed as merenda, as I hear is still the case amongst Florentine old ladies. But I tend to have it as dessert – and I like my desserts property sweet. So, instead, I recommend you give a shot to cantucci with Vinsanto, the Santorini dessert wine made of the three white grapes of the island. Any of the usual suspects will do, but I am slightly partial to Argyros. Just make sure you stick to the less aged examples.

And that’s it! We are back to Greece! I’ll leave what to pair with moussaka to you ...

Wines which are not included in the links can be found on greeceandgrapes.com.

Peter Pharos likes drinking, talking and writing about the wines of Greece and Italy. He writes a bimonthly column for timatkin.com.

Top photo ©Kisa_Markiza at fotolia.com, dim sum © martinhosmat083 at fotolia.com