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.

From the archives: Does Bordeaux need butter?

Italian wines with olive oil-based dishes, Bordeaux with butter-based ones. Sound like a no-brainer? Well, yes, if you happen to be in either region: you obviously drink the local wine with the local food. But just think for a moment about today’s top international restaurants.

Olive oil is much more likely to be the favoured cooking medium than butter - or duck fat for that matter. So where does that leave Bordeaux? Or international variants on Bordeaux grape varieties? And does that rule out classic French-inspired cuisine with Italian wines?

It was wine consultant Hugo Rose MW who first got me thinking about these issues. He’d picked up on a comment by Angelo Gaja who had expressed the view that his wines were best enjoyed in the company of olive-oil based dishes. Hugo had wondered if the reverse was true of Bordeaux. “If you look at the (Bordeaux) region olives are not found either in the vineyards or in the kitchen. If you speak to the Bordelais about olive oil the advice tends to be to use it very sparingly and only with salad.”

I invited Hugo to join me to put the theory to the test at one of London’s best neighbourhood restaurants Aubergine in Fulham (now closed), whose Michelin-starred chef William Drabble is able to turn his hand to either style. In front of us we had 8 wines - three Bordeaux, two Italian - a Chianti Classico and a Barolo - and three New World wines - an Australian Cabernet and a Californian Merlot and Pinot Noir. (Bear in mind this tasting took place in 2005 when you look at the vintages but I think the conclusions still apply)

The first exercise was to see how they went with olive oil. We had three different examples, a light, herby, slightly spicy Provencal oil called Alziari, an intensely grassy, peppery oil from Frescobaldi in Tuscany, and a richly fruity Spanish oil from Valdueza (all supplied by The Oil Merchant)

As anticipated, our Bordeaux, which included a ‘99 La Tour Figeac (Saint-Emilion), a 2000 Chateau Talbot (St Julien) and a 1989 Chateau Dauzac (Margaux) struggled, the most versatile match being the muscular, more tannic Talbot. But interestingly we found that it didn’t make a huge difference to our wines how powerful the flavour of the oil was. The Frescobaldi was particularly difficult - true - with the La Tour Figeac but the much milder Alziari also tended to make both it and the Dauzac taste astringent.

Our Chianti - a 2001 La Pieve Rodere Il Palazzino - went predictably well with the Tuscan Frescobaldi but not as well as a 1997 Barolo Cannubi from E Pira & Figli which was also excellent with the Spanish oil. The Californian Merlot, a Duckhorn 2001, worked well with the Tuscan and Spanish oils (better in my view than Hugo’s) but not at all well with the milder Provencal one while the Cabernet, a still-vibrant 1998 Houghton Jack Mann, clashed quite horribly with the Valdueza but fared better than the Bordeaux with the Frescobaldi. As did the Pinot Noir - a Peter Michael Le Moulin Rouge 1999. Conclusion? Like cheese, olive oil can create problems for any kind of red, not just Bordeaux.

Next we tried our wines with three different dishes cooked in duck fat, butter and olive oil, bringing in a much wider range of flavours and textures. First off was a south-west inspired ballotine of confit duck with a foie gras ‘vinaigrette’ and caramelised onions. It should have gone with the three Bordeaux and did so perfectly with the St Emilion and older Dauzac but less well with the more tannic Talbot. Hugo and I disagreed about how well it went with the Barolo (I liked it, he didn’t) and the other Bordeaux varietals - Hugo favoured the Duckhorn Merlot while I thought it went slightly better with the Jack Mann Cabernet but we agreed it didn’t do the Chianti and Pinot Noir any favours at all. A Bordeaux-biased dish, then, but not just any Bordeaux. More traditional, more mature, restrained styles worked better.

The next dish, a pithivier (puff pastry pie) of quail with a very rich red wine and butter sauce, should have been natural Bordeaux territory but it was really only the Talbot which coped with its intensity. Much better were the Barolo and the Duckhorn Merlot for which it was almost the perfect dish. It wasn’t pleasant at all with the Chianti or the Jack Mann and made the pinot noir taste too jammy though it picked up nicely on the mushrooms in the recipe. Result? No regional bias at all to the wine matches. Piedmont and California proved just as good as Bordeaux.

Finally, an all-Mediterranean dish of lamb cooked with olive oil, rosemary, olives and aubergines, fertile territory, you’d think for our Chianti for which it was certainly the best, if not outstanding match. But it was convincingly outclassed by the Barolo and the Duckhorn Merlot. The Bordeaux didn’t seem as uncongenial as one might have imagined, the smoother, more mellow Dauzac and La Tour Figeac being a more attractive pairing than the Talbot but the anticipated lamb and cabernet marriage didn’t happen with the Jack Mann which surprisingly worked less well than the Peter Michael Pinot Noir. Outcome: Mediterranean flavours don’t necessarily need Mediterranean wines.

In such a brief session, it’s hard to reach definitive conclusions except to say that the wide disparity in styles in any region make it hard to make generalisations of the Bordeaux = butter, Italian wines = olive oil variety. Two factors make any match more challenging - firm tannins in a wine and astringency or pungency in an oil. A tentative conclusion might be that much-maligned merlot is a more forgiving grape variety than cabernet - or young cabernet at least - and that Barolo should be considered more often as a dining option when a table is ordering a range of different dishes.

The best matches

• With the duck confit and foie gras vinaigrette

The 1999 La Tour Figeac and 2001 Duckhorn Merlot were Hugo’s top choices, the La Tour Figeac and the 1989 Dauzac were mine. Yes, Bordeaux and dishes based on duck fat work well - no surprise there.

• With the pithivier of quail and red wine butter sauce

Hugo and I both awarded our best marks to the Chateau Talbot, Barolo Cannubi and Duckhorn Merlot, indicating no particular regional bias for butter (The Barolo outcome is not so surprising when you remember that butter rather than oil was the fat traditionally used in Northern Italy)

• With the roast chump of lamb with provencal vegetables, olives and rosemary

A slight divergence again: Hugo rated the Duckhorn Merlot, Barolo and Pinot noir most highly. I favoured the Barolo, Merlot and La Tour Figeac. The Chianti was good but not as good as we expected.

What else to drink with oil- or butter-infused dishes

• Chardonnay almost always works well with a butter-based sauce as it does with a creamy one. The richer the dish, the better the chardonnay. Meursault and similarly rich chardonnays are superb with a hollandaise, lobster cooked in butter or a steak bearnaise: lighter styles of white burgundy such as Puligny or cool climate New World chardonnay with a beurre blanc.

• Rich southern French whites - blends of Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier - from the Languedoc or Rhone are a good alternative

• Mediterranean-style olive oil-based fish dishes using red mullet or seabass work exceptionally well with strong, dry ros especially if the dish includes olives or tapenade. I was drinking brilliantly well - and cheaply - from the Costieres de Nimes this summer.

• Dry Italian whites such as Soave and Lugana seem made for dishes with basil-infused oil or with pesto.

• Albarino would be my wine of choice with spanish style hake cooked with olive oil and garlic or with salsa verde.

This article was first published in Decanter in October 2005