29 posts tagged “food & wine pairing”

An entertaining way to talk about wine.

Anecdotes, le nez du vin, great food and excellent company. The credit goes to Dawid Koegelenberg, General Manager of Corrigan’s. He brings theatre, entertainment, and a character and flair to what could otherwise be staid, dull and lifeless.

Battling against the surroundings of a rather listless, dull private room, Dawid was terrific.

Guess the wine in a blackened glass – red or white. An interesting ice-breaker. And teaching us the sense of smell. Four bottles which contain different wine aromas (le nez du vin) – honey, lime, walnut and apricot.

Food and wine matching at Corrigan’s.  It gets the big thumbs-up from me.

Some highlights: Spanish Manzanilla with crispy olive filled with goat’s cheese and spicy harissa. Unctuous. Nutty aromas, firm structure of the sherry stood purposefully alongside the spiciness of the dish.

And the Maury Vintage 2007 (French sherry) was matched superbly with the chocolate fondant and chestnut dessert.

Yummy.

A little piece for Liffey…

A little grape called Semillon, found in St-Emilion and Medoc in the Bordeaux region, along with the Sauvignon Blanc grape.  Aided by noble rot, the Semillon grape turns itself into a wonderful, unctuous, sweet wine called Sauternes. Simply gorgeous. This is grape royalty.

Sauternes

Heaven.

I arrive late to the tasting. It’s across town and it’s rainy - not a taxi in sight.

Noisily I descend the stairs of the blue bird wine cellar. Slurps abound and a quietly spoken gentleman occupies the interests of everyone in the room. I go unnoticed.

It's Australia evening at the cellar. I look for our host.

He was surprisingly well groomed - Italian blazer (for sure), hair immaculate, I could go on ...I thought the tasting notes said he was a cattle farmer's son. My prejudices laid out before you, i was expecting cowboy hat, cotton jeans, spurs and chewing tobacco. Oh, I was so wrong. I later read he was educated in London, worked in the futures securities market, returned home after a period in London and is now a respectable vineyard owner. Not sure he picks the grapes – a very difficult picture to conjure up.

Reschke is a vineyard in the lower part of the south eastern region of Australia called Coonawarra.  

What wonderful little wines. I tasted their entire latest vintage (2004) and was amazed at the quality of wines. As a big Rhone fan, I thought their shiraz was on the nose – peppery, big black fruits and good round textures. There were several interesting cabernet sauvignons too; the only underwhelming wine was the sauvignon blanc.

Unsure about the wine names (empyrean, bos and vitilus) – seems like someone recently passed their latin exam.

Wonderful little vineyard to look out for.

Discovered a great food & wine matching place. Went along. Met some great people and picked-up a few tips.

Rules according to our host; match accordingly:

Weight of the food with the wine. Heavy with heavy, light with light.

Intensity of flavour. Subtle foods and strong flavours do not match well. If in doubt, be neutral.

Acidity.

Texture/ tannins.

Saltiness. Salt and bitterness (tannins) do not marry well.

Sweetness. The wine should be sweeter than the food.

A wine fact. Vanilla lessens acidity in wine. And another fact. If whilst trying to establish the nose of a wine the senses shut down, rebase your nose by smelling the back of your hand.

A few interesting wines with food:

Champagne - Chicory, lemon & caper salad with salmon.

Acidity balanced the bitterness of the chicory.

Sauvignon Blanc, News Zealand Dog Point, 2007 – Prawn risotto

Fresh, crispy and aromatic.

Pessac-Leognan, la Solitude Blanc 2006 Bordeaux – Seared guinea fowl

Wonderful black fruits and tannins, good structure and weight for the guinea fowl.

Tokaji Oremus, Hungary 2005 – Roquefort cheese.

Floral, honey and good sweet/acidity balance.

20 year old Tawny Port – Petit pot au chocolat.

Great place. Look out for Berry Bros & Rudd, London England.

Let’s start by saying I am biased. This is a wonderful little restaurant. It is, however, not perfect. Yet.

The growing pains are evident. The concept – light, healthy food with exquisite wines.

I shall neither fall into the trap of introducing Texture by way of talking about the wonderful combination of Icelandic (the chef: Agnar Sverrisson) and French (the sommelier: Xavier Rousset) nor talk about blue eyes, youthfulness and a lot of other stuff – the website will show you all.

As oft the way, I'll draw on my learned American restaurant critics’ approach, and the rule of three (visits) affords me the authority to talk about the dishes, great wine and service.

Is it a marriage in heaven; well, the cliché of time will only tell is apt.

I arranged to meet a friend in Texture's champagne bar. A perfect setting for a private conversation. Texture is housed in a light, high-ceiling, Georgian style property. White walls, cornices with wonderful decorative designs, and large rectangular windows allowing plenty of natural light.

Welcomed always, by a great bunch of professional front of house staff. Xavier extended the welcome with a little chat about his recent tasting for Decanter. Some 80 wines. Wow. Was his palette numb I quizzed – yes came the retort. Poor chap. How do they survive these sessions - tips: patience, slowness, bread, plenty of water and more time. Phew.

My guest arrives.   Xavier ready to the pour. It’s Blanc de Blancs all round, bien sur! Mesnil, one of the more popular & gorgeous chardonnay-based champagnes and no surprises here. Except the glasses. I would describe them simply as a flute glass with a bulbous top. Why? very unusual. Xavier agrees, adding “… my guests simply get more champagne from this style of glass… and why not…”. Ok. My ears cringe and I already fear consultants are en route to advise efficiency measures. Ssssssh Xavier.

Chat. More chat. My guest is pretty interesting. More chat. Natural light, dusk and some more of those wonderful tiny chardonnay bubbles, we are set for dinner. I know the perfect table. No, not telling.

The dining area is small and the tables are sufficiently well set apart that most tables are in good positions. And I am still not telling. Acoustics are fine, too.

Although only a recent encounter, I had noted my guest maintains a healthy lifestyle; perhaps, Texture was a perfect choice afterall.

We opted for a 5-course Scandinavian tasting menu.

Bowled over, again, by the fantastic amuse bouche of green pea soup. Still at a loss for superlatives, the texture, flavours and just sheer simplicity of this dish is "phenomenal". It is pea and mint. Cold. Icy. Soup-like. Brilliant.

Salmon and dill followed. Whilst the salmon flakes would have separated with a puff of wind, and the dill subtle, one has come to accept these dishes as everyday (with Heston Blumenthal having set the standard using water baths and the sous-vide, slow cooking method).  Tut.  

Wines are good. Xavier is modest and brilliant. He’ll pair the wines with food, magically.

Icelandic cod with chorizo had perhaps a few too many additional flavours, textures. Lovely micro-flowers - cute. An interesting spicy Argentinean red to compete with the chorizo was a talking piece. Yet, neither my guest nor I (after numerous text messages) can recall the label.

The pre-dessert and dessert were too similar to comment on; pity. One credit is due here for the fantastic strawberry granita.

Tokaji.

Coffee. Taxi and home.

Love Texture. And hijacking my interesting guest’s words “… tad repetitive, perhaps a slight identity crisis…trying too hard…” it will improve.

A terrific combination: the cuisine of Rowley Leigh and the orator who came in the shape of John Livingstone-Learmonth (author of The Wines of the Northern Rhone). JLL guided us through the bumps and hillsides of the Rhone and entertained us with his similes and adjectives, although I noted an overuse of “pretty”.  We had “… 22 year old turnip… pretty…ballerinas…”

Pike Boudin, Lobster Sauce

Marsanne Vin de Pays de Collines Rhodanniennes (2007, Perret)

L’Oratoire St Martin (2007, Cairanne)

The bodin was subtle and the sauce very restrained, the choice of Cairanne was very well balanced, and yet the Voignier (only 10%) was quite prominent.

Pate de Canard en Croute, Dandeloin Salad

Cote Rotie (2004, Clusel Roch)

St Joseph (2001 Gonon)

St Joseph was a clear favourite for me; I let it sit for an hour and it was superb. Peppery, oaky and a long finish. The duck was sublime.

Broufade Nîmoise

Chateauneuf-du-Pape (2000, Charvin)

Chateauneuf-du-Pape (1990 Château de Beaucastel)

The Beaucastel stole the evening. Vegetal and very smelly. Gorgeous.  

St Marcellin, Comte, Ossau-Iraty

St Peray Figuiers 2002 Gripa

A perfect wine for the cheese; this combination was deemed odd and caused a lot of debate. I thought it was a marriage in heaven.  

02.03.09

Tasting Wines

Hermitage Blanc 2005 – apricots, buttery

Hermitage Rouge 2001 – fruity, light tannins, smooth

‘Ermitage Curvee Cathelin 1998 – peppery, long finish

Vin de Paille 1990 – nice syrupy, light toffee

OK NOW I HAVE SEEN HEAVEN…

Then,

Aperitif – Saint Peray Mousseux Jean Luis Thiers

Scallops & Sea Kale with Hermitage Blanc (smooth)

Hare Pate and Saint Joseph Rouge 2006 (I returned to the Cathelin worked much better)

Baby Lamb en Persillade (Rowley kindly replaced this with red mullet) Hermitage 1999

ROUND TRIP TO HEAVEN…

Saint Marcellin with Hermitage Rouge 1988 and 1985 ('88 was wonderfully stinky and '85 opened up after an hour)

1988 WAS MY FAVOURITE.

Then a small group of us were privileged to receive a glass of Grillet. I was given the cork for keepsake. Made some friends for life.

Le Café Anglais wine tasting event for JL Chave’s Hermitage.

Loved the words of A A Gill's restaurant piece on El Bulli - it's the complete and utter lack of ponce...

It's awfully tricky talking about this type of food unless it’s a shared experience. So, I decided to simply pull out the expressive words and phrases from Gill’s article.

For me, the words are enough to take me back to the wonderful lunch at Hessie’s and subsequent amateur attempts of my mr. chef.

Here goes:

Intense

Obtusely original

Manipulates ingredients

Flavours, textures and methods challenging

Never overpowering

Often astonishing

Superlatively brilliant

Heavenly surprise

Laugh out loud

Inspired and complementary match

Plays with bitterness

Beyond epicurean pleasure

Directly feeds the heart

Cultured head & greedy stomach

No faux ponce

No haute civility

Without adjectives and exclamation marks…

Heavenly words.

my old stomping ground of fitrovia in london. hello.

popped into my favorite little italian restaurant, latium. was my best kept secret.

foie gras terrine on pumpkin brioche and a glass torcolato.

extraordinary. it was a terrine and glazed. actually had layers.

balanced with a non-buttery brioche, subtle pumpkin flavours and a hint of sweetness.

paired with a glass of torcolato - "...The 2005 Torcolato is 100% Vespaiola aged in French oak. This super-rich dessert wine flows from the glass with sumptuous layers of honey, apricot jam, candied orange peel, herbs and flowers. The wine possesses tons of depth and a finish that lasts forever. This expansive, compelling wine is a gem."

not too sweet. 

then a whizz round soho/covent garden late afternoon in the wonderful sunshine. i was in heaven.

A conversation about graffiti, campaigning and an interesting lawyer. Who would have thought it would end up as a lunch invitation.

How does my local district council handle graffiti? The lawyer had an opinion. They extended the conversation to a potential campaigning piece into preventing litter. Apparently a recent study, summarized in the Times newspaper, highlighted the causal relationship between a neighborhood’s litter problem and other social problems including violence. I thought graffiti was stretching the point a bit.

So we share the same local council. Excellent, you live around the corner – come to lunch.

I am English. Apparently, we do not invite neighbours around for lunch. Okay. Says who?

Sunday is free. I can arrange the cook (the wonderful chef), there’s me (I’ll ferret the cellars and stores for wine) and then there’s the lawyer and let’s round-up the numbers.

Lunch is on.

It had a Japanese influenced menu. Chef decided it was a Tetsuya day and the fishmonger wanted pictures. I have slate mats, so an ideal backdrop. The canon ixus is at the ready.

We started with green tea and ginju-shu sake (fantastic supermarket in Brewer Street, they have everything). Wines furnished by Nicolas, just around the corner in Berwick Street. So my Saturday was planned well; bottles, coffee beans from Old Compton Street’s Algerian Coffee House and enough time to stop off at my favorite clothes shop.

I opted for a nice chardonnay-based Petit Chablis for the consommé of tomato & tea. Oddly, the green tea was better for it (says the lawyer) and the sake not too overwhelming. Yum.

The Chablis took us through, and complemented, the next three dishes of marinated whiting with umeboshi (Japanese plums), cold soup of cauliflower with caviar and the third, angel hair pasta with small prawns.

The cauliflower soup was a conversation stopper.

Unsure why. A simple dish, with bursts of fishy flavour.

We seemed to get tangled up, and there was much jumping on chairs to get the best photograph of the dishes; all for the fishmonger.

Slow roasted rouget (red snapper) with buckwheat vinaigrette was up next. Now that was superb. Different elements and flavours appeared from the hajiki (seaweed), physalis (spikes of juiciness) and an interesting lightness and subtlety of Sainsbury’s own label goat’s cheese.

A change of colour on the wine front was welcomed.

I opted for the gamay to balance the delicate flavours of the quail (breast and confit); a Saint Amour was even-handed and unobtrusive, a wonderful Beaujolais.

Our little chef has a penchant for desserts presently. Apple sorbet precariously balanced on a sauterne jelly. It was bobbing, bobbing up and down. A flourless chocolate cake and orange ice-cream was presented. Chef sneaked in a chocolate sorbet; I am pleased for that indiscretion. The Elysium Black Muscat would not have worked otherwise.

Five hours later, 10 courses heavier. We are none the wiser about the cause or effect of graffiti. We did, however, reach consensus that a paint stripper to remove the graffiti would leave a rather nasty bright and clean patch on the brick work.