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Meeting 331 -"Food and Wine Matching"
Friday 19th February 2010 Neville Hall, Waltham St Lawrence
Doug and Pat, with the help of Charlotte, had no such pretentions. The onus for matching the food and wines - and these two were given equal standing in the debate - was on the members. Needless to say, the Berkshire Branch lived up to its usual total absence of unanimity in making definite one-to-one preferences. As each 'course' was completed, Doug asked who enjoyed particular wines with each of the various delicacies that Pat had selected and Charlotte made. The overall impression was that both the food and wines were an excellent choice and, except for a few of the more obvious comparisons, compatibility was more common than expected.
For the Starters, the mackerel pate went with all the wines but as might be expected the off-dry gewürztraminer turned almost full sweet with the lemon added. The duck egg didn't seem to go too well with either Pouilly wines but the Gewürzt and the Pinot fared better.
The Thai chicken curry invoked a fairly uniform positive response with all the wines, with the Gewürtz proving just slightly less popular.
The Cheeses produced the widest range of acceptance with the wines. The Goat's cheese seemed too mild to stand up to any of the 3 wines but both the Priorat and Jurançon getting a lot of votes with the Cheddar and Stilton. The most popular pairing was the Madeira and Stilton.
For the Desserts, matching proved the most difficult The pineapple made some headway with the Jurançon and Madeira but a rebellious "where's the Kirsch?" did arise from the floor. The chocolate was always a problem but the Madeira just held it's own. Great pity we can't get South African Jeripego any more!!
Altogether a very pleasant and interesting evening. The food was divided into four sections, Starter, Main, Cheese and Dessert. But for the purpose of comparing the the food with the wines, the Starter and Main were grouped together and the Cheese and Dessert similarly.
Starters:
1. Smoked Mackerel Paté without lemon.
2. Smoked Mackerel Paté with lemon.
3. Duck Egg
Main:
Thai Chicken Curry.
Cheese:
1. Cheddar (Glastonbury).
2. Soft Goat Cheese (Kidderminister).
3. Stilton.
Dessert:
1. Fresh pineapple
2. Chocolate fondant
| The Wines |
| Aperitif: Crémant de Bourgoygne Blanc de Noirs Brut. Bailly Lapierre Pinot Noir and Gamay grapes. Very pleasant, easy drinking with a smooth dry yeasty finish |
| Starter and Main Course Wines |
| (1) Pouilly Fumé, Domaine de Riaux, Bertand Jeannot et Fils, 2002
Lemon and nettles on the nose. A good year reflected in the complexity of a classic Loire SB |
| (2) Puilly-Fuissé, Domaine La Soufrandise, Françoise et Nicholas Melin, 2000
Not the heavy weight of the Grand Crus Burgundies, but a nicely balanced fruity wine |
| (3) Gewurtztraminer Grand Cru Hengst, Cave de Turckheim,2004. The more acidic foods turned this full wine from off dry to an almost sweet one. The Mackerel Paté with lemon being the bench mark. |
| (4)Pinot Noir, Stonleigh Vineyards,2008
A classic down-under Pinot. Gentle, fruity and a nice clean touch of acid in the finish. |
| Cheese and Dessert Wines |
| (5) Priorato, Masia Barril,1987 Leather and mature plum nose. Rustic, old style Priorat. Full fruit but a hint of varnish. Sadly this wine was past its best. |
| (6) Domaine Montesquiou GrappeD'Or, Jurançon 2007
A full wine. Essentially a vendage tardif, grapes being picked when in late November/early December. With 12 months in oak this wine was a rich fruity mouthful. (100% Petit Manseng) |
| (7) Full Rich Madeira, Henriques & Henriques
A rich wine which matched with Stilton perfectly and almost made it with chocolate. Certainly it did better than any other wine!) |
(JF)