Match of the week | Mini Yorkshire puddings with rare fillet of beef and Central Otago Pinot Noir

Match of the week

Mini Yorkshire puddings with rare fillet of beef and Central Otago Pinot Noir

A student gathering is not the first place you’d think of finding a good wine pairing or, indeed, a drinkable wine at all but the talk I gave last week at the University of Bristol Wine Circle produced some great combinations.

The food which was prepared by recently graduated student Emma Barlow was pretty impressive too. I think most of us would feel well pleased with ourselves if we’d managed to rustle up such posh canapés as the mini Yorkshire puddings with rare fillet of beef, creamed horseradish and pea-shoots on the right.

With it we’d paired a mature 2002 Haut-Médoc, Chateau Lamothe-Bergeron which I thought a little austere though have to admit the majority of the students disagreed with me. I preferred a younger, more lively Central Otago Pinot Noir 2010, the Yealands Estate ‘Chancet Rocks’ which confimed my belief that pinot is a particularly good match for fillet steak.

The truth is that both would be fine with beef though I think the Bordeaux would drink better with a roast dinner and the pinot would be the better party wine.

Other good pairings were a Western Australia Sauvignon-Semillon called Allegory with some parmesan and rosemary shortbreads with roast cherry tomatoes, feta and black olives and a 2011 Sauvignon de Touraine with filo tartlets filled with smoked chicken, mango and coriander.

Those Bristol students know how to live . . .

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Comments: 3 (Add)

Tyrone @winesonlyadrink on November 6 2012 at 14:02

Okay great thanks. Yes, think I overrated the Pinot & Chilli 'cos of the low tannin compared to Cabernet Sauvignon , though I don't make it fiery. These are n't actual matches by the way, just the usual shoe-horning of wines into the fairly set weekly menu in my house :-)

Fiona Beckett on November 6 2012 at 09:56

Actually I think the bolognese is probably the better match - depending how fiery your chilli is. And duck, of course, is always great with pinot

Tyrone @winesonlyadrink on November 6 2012 at 09:47

Agree (for all I know) about claret & roast, Pinot & canapés, all subjective as usual of course. Amazing how your articles sometimes psychically tune to my bottles. I've a waiting Otago PN (delayed by a virus) to taste, will then have it over 2 days with pasta & Bologna style sauce...chilli con carne (probably the better match?).

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