Match of the week | Brown shrimps and cucumber with Corail Ros 2010

Match of the week

Brown shrimps and cucumber with Corail Ros 2010

I could have made almost any of the pairings in the Restaurants in Residence pop-up supper in Docklands last Tuesday my match of the week but I think this one just inches it, mainly because I absolutely loved the wine, Corail Rosé.

It came from an organic and biodynamically run estate Chateau de Roquefort in Provence but was darker than the average Provencal rosé with a more intense but not at all confected fruit flavour - "soft red fruits with a hint of garrigue spice on the finish" as Jade Koch the head buyer for HG Wines (the wine arm of St John) put it.

She paired it with an equally seasonal dish of Morecombe Bay brown shrimps, cucumbers and chervil. Morecombe Bay shrimps are small and sweet and that chimed in beautifully with the fruitiness of the wine.

Two other great pairings at the dinner, which was cooked by Jonathan Woolway, sous-chef at St John bar and restaurant were:

Cante Gau 2009, a rare 100% white Carignan from another Provencal estate Domaine la Realtire, with a salad of slow-roasted tomatoes, bobby beans and Berkswell sheeps cheese

Slow cooked Herwick lamb with Sarments de Mars 2006 from Chateau la Colombiere in Fronton in south-west France which was made from old parcels of Negrette and Cabernet Sauvignon. A slightly rustic red that suited the gamey quality of the meat perfectly.

The only match I didn't think quite worked was a 2007 Jurancon Chateau du Jurque which was too powerful for a summer fruit pavlova.

Many people will be unaware you can buy many of the wines on the St John wine list from HG Wines - either on-line or by the bottle from their restaurants. They're all French, mostly from small producers and pretty reasonably priced. The Corail Rosé, for instance, is £10.70.

You can keep track of Shacklewell Nights events which nomally take place in a former clothing factory in Dalston on their blog. Restaurants in Residence was part of a month-long event in which they participated along with 3 of London's other pop-up restaurants.

I attended the dinner as a guest of Shacklewell Nights.

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