Pairings | Mourvedre
The best wine pairing for steak (updated)
Steak is a natural partner for red wine, but is there a definitive “best” red for steak?
9 great wine pairings for duck
There’s one wine that’s invariably recommended as a pairing for duck and that is pinot noir but of course duck, like any other meat, can be cooked in different ways. How does that affect the wine match?
Which wine to pair with Texas BBQ
US-based wine writer and educator David Furer reports on an epic tasting in the homeland of American barbeque, Austin, Texas pairing a selection of international and home-grown reds with different meats.
What impact does garlic have on wine pairing?
If you’re the kind of person (like me) who puts garlic into practically everything you cook you may regard this question as an irrelevance but some dishes are much more garlicky than others.
Six of the best wine pairings for roast or baked ham
If you’re serving a ham or gammon as a roast this Thanksgiving or Christmas you need a more full-bodied wine with it than when you serve ham as a cold cut. Which one depends on the glaze.
6 good wine pairings for aubergine/eggplant
Aubergine - or eggplant as it’s known in the US - doesn’t have a strong flavour of its own but tends to enrich any dish in which it’s included especially when baked with tomatoes and cheese. So if you’re looking for a wine pairing for aubergine parmigiana or eggplant parmesan read on!
Manor House Fairtrade Shiraz Mourvedre 2011
Before you get too excited about this week's wine of the week you’re unlikely to be able to buy it unless you live in South Africa or Sweden but I want to flag it up because it’s the best Fairtrade wine I've tasted.
Off the Shelf: Zalze Shiraz Mourvèdre Viognier 2013
This weekend is the last in the current promotion at Waitrose which they’re trumpeting dramatically as a ‘last chance to save’ on their collection of spring wines.
Roast lamb with wild garlic risotto, asparagus and feta with a chilled Languedoc red
This match, which I enjoyed at Plateau wine bar in Brighton last week, breaks a couple of wine pairing conventions. Firstly that you match red meat with a full bodied red. And secondly that you don’t drink red wine with asparagus.
Brill with oxtail and Domaine Tempier Bandol
About the most unlikely wine match you could imagine - a delicate fish with a 19 year old red wine - but it worked! Which shows you can always be surprised by food and wine pairing.
A rich jus and Ju de Vie
You’d think a rich winey sauce or jus would be the easiest thing to match with red wine but that isn’t necessarily the case as it tends to compete with it.
Off the Shelf: Desconocido 2013
The first of my random wine finds in this new series* is a young Spanish red called Desconocido #1 Tinto Joven 2013 from Alicante which is made from bush-vine Monastrell (or Mourvèdre as they call it in France).
Macedonio Finca del Regajo Monastrell Joven 2012
Those of you who read the Guardian will have spotted that I’ve devoted this week’s column to independent wine merchants but here’s a slightly different business model from a firm called Dashing Wines which bills itself as offering ‘estate wines at everyday prices’.
Domaine Marie 2013 Faugères - the perfect autumn red
I’ve a soft spot for the Faugères wine region which is just up the road from our house in the Languedoc. It’s a beautiful wild hilly area on the foothills of the coastal range which produces some lovely warm spicy reds.