Match of the week
Wine pairing: burrata, beetroot and Albarino
This week I was at Heathcotes Brasserie in Preston, Lancashire for a wine dinner for which I’d had to devise the wine matches. Paul Heathcote, the chef, is an old sparring partner and obviously thought he’d put me on the spot by coming up with some challenging dishes.
This actually sounded more difficult than it was - a starter salad of beetroot with burrata (a richer version of mozzarella) and pea-shoots dressed with rapeseed oil and - the killer ingredient - fiery horseradish which was incorporated into a whipped cream.
Now sometimes beetroot dominates a dish and tends to suggest a fruity red (like Dolcetto or Pinot Noir) rather than a white but here it was the accompanying cheese and spicy horseradish I was concerned with. And it was the start of a five course meal which needed to feature different wines so the first one couldn’t be too dominant.
I picked a crisp, clean 2011 Orballo Albarino from Bodegas la Val in Rias Baixas in northern Spain which Ironically I later found (for £8.79) at local wine merchants D. Byrne of Clitheroe* which I’ll be writing about in due course. Although it was only 12.5% it had the intensity to handle the beetroot and the horseradish and made a refreshing contrast to both.
Incidentally I love getting involved in wine events like this so if you’d like me to come and host one with you - or simply help devise the pairings - contact me about rates at fiona AT matchingfoodandwine DOT com
* Also available, at the time of writing, for £9.39 at Rannoch Scott, £9.99 at Booths and - rather cheekily - for £10.99 from Virgin Wines. Not sure how they justify that.
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