Match of the week

Lamb with Nebbiolo d’Alba

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on August 30 2021 at 08:13

For some reason I always think of beef with nebbiolo and other wines like Bordeaux and rioja with lamb but this combination at one of Bristol’s best restaurants Bulrush the other night was stunning.

The dish was a complicated one by chef George Livesey’s own admission. I got him to run through it and this is how he described it

"That particular dish is a labour of love with a lot of long processes like the dehydrated and smoked lambs heart which takes about a week, from start to finish! Here’s a recap:

BBQ loin and mini fillet

Slowly cooked and glazed belly with black garlic and mushroom ketchup

Shallot stuffed with lamb mousse and smoked lamb heart

Confit silver skin

Glazed sweetbread

The sauce is a classic lamb jus with slowly cooked tongue, crispy belly and pickled wild garlic stems

Nasturtium leaf and artichoke purée."

As you can see there were a couple of gamey and smoky elements - smoked lamb hearts and tongue and I think it was those that were the key to the match. That and the fact the dish was very rich and the nebbiolo, a 2017 La Pipina from La Biòca offered a contrasting freshness and acidity that certainly a riper new world wine would not have delivered. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be available in the UK.

It was part of an accompanying wine flight that included all sorts of interesting choices and the rest of the food was spectacular too as you can see from my recent instagram post. It’s not a cheap night out (count on £125 a head including wine and service) but for the quality of the food it’s well worth it. It deserves its Michelin star.

For other lamb pairings see Top wine pairings for lamb

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