Wines to match Skye Gyngell's seasonal recipes

I love Skye Gyngell’s simple food - great ingredients cooked with flair but never over-fussed. She cooks, as you may know, at the Petersham Caf in Richmond where available tables are as rare as hens teeth but happily her recipes crop up each week in the Independent on Sunday and today in the Telegraph.

Crab cakes with corn puree and chilli oil
There are three ingredients in this recipe that go really well with Chardonnay - crab, corn and butter - so I wouldn’t be deflected by the serving suggestions of chilli oil and freshly squeezed lime except to suggest that you choose a one that is not too heavily oaked. A cool climate Chardonnay with good acidity would be perfect.

Chicken with fennel and saffron
A more complex recipe than the title would suggest which contains not only two kinds of fennel (the seeds and the vegetable) but quite a lot of garlic and orange peel and some dried chilli and tomatoes too which will give it something of the character of a slightly aniseedy, herby, summery Provencal stew. That being the case I’d personally go for a strong dry southern French or Spanish ros though you could go for a characterful Italian white like a Vermentino or even a rustic southern French red - something like a Costires de Nimes

Hazelnut tart
This dessert should taste like a slightly nutty treacle tart with a bit of a lemony tang - not too challenging to match with a dessert wine. I’d suggest something like a late harvest Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon - in fact any of the sweet wines from the Bordeaux region or its environs should work well. (The suggested accompaniment of raspberries won’t make a big difference)

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