A White Wine Challenge

Tonight we have a couple of friends coming over for dinner. When we arranged it we were told that the girl "doesn't like white wine" and maybe we could find something she did like.

A challenge? Oh, alright then!

We've decided to do a 3 course "wine tasting" menu, each choosing one of our favourite whites and picking the food to compliment the wines.

To start we'll be having Dr Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett with Thai style scallops.
Main course is Arnaud de Lassalle 2010 Pouilly-Fumé with sea bream, crushed potatoes and sauce vierge.
For dessert, Concha y Toro Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc accompanied by vanilla panacotta and raspberry sauce.


And for an aperitif we have some Three Choirs May Hill

Hopefully there's something in there our guest will like!

"Wine critics' advice is unchallenged bunk"?

Quite an interesting piece from the Guardian today. In summary, they are saying a lot of wine critics advice is useless because people have different palates. Which is a fair point. We know it's true in food. Some people think something like moroccan lamb with apricots is a delicious match but I know a few people who just really don't get the concept of sweet fruit in savoury dishes and just think it's terrible. Why would matching food and wine be any different?

I definitely think it's the same with wine. You're definitely going to have more success enjoying wine and a meal if you pick something you like than something you don't like, no matter how well it supposedly goes. But there are probably some principles about the wine that will make it a better match. How full bodied it is, how sweet it is, how acidic it is etc.

I did the flavour profile test the article mentions (the link is broken in the actual article at the moment) and this was my result:

SENSITIVE: Members of the SENSITIVE TASTERS COMMUNITY are the most open to diversity and range of styles. Whilst you’ll tend to avoid sweet wines (except possibly for dessert) and are not too keen on heavy oak or over-the-top intensity of reds, you like a broad spectrum of rich, smooth flavoured red and whites.

Which is kind of right, although I do like huge reds as well. And among the recommendations are a few things I've been enjoying lately including

• Pinotage from South Africa
• Zinfandel from the U.S - not too high in alcohol or oak.
• Modern French Reds especially Southern Rhone

So dunno, might be more useful the less you know? Does how you like your tea/coffee really tell you enough to know what wines you might like? It seemed to get the closest match for me from their four categories.

Shiraz weekend

Hello. I'm Ann, nice to meet you.

A couple of months ago we planned an evening in with the specific aim of drinking a bottle of Allegrini Amarone which we were given as a wedding present.

I made some food to match the wine (bruschetta and bolognese) and we opened a Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Amarone to compare with the Allegrini. The Taste The Difference bottle is one of my favourites, and a bargain price for Amarone so it was an interesting comparison, but the Allegrini was a clear winner as expected.

The evening went so well we decided to repeat it this weekend and this time it's Mike's turn to choose the wine. He's gone for Matetic EQ Syrah and Costero Syrah to compare with it.
So this week I've been thinking about what food to match with it. Curry is an obvious match for Syrah but we eat a lot of curry anyway so we wanted something a bit different.

The next obvious match is Chilean food for Chilean wine so that's mainly what I've been investigating. A lot of the recipes I found were for fish/seafood and didn't sound like they would go very well with the Syrah which narrowed down the options quite quickly to a few casseroles and stews which sounded nice but, like the curry, quite similar to our normal meals. Instead I found a Spanish monkfish dish which does sound like a good match.

We'll start with Chilean Empanadas (spicy pasties), then the Spanish Monkfish, and finally Limoncello Souffle, just because I want to try making a souffle. It's a slightly random menu but hopefully it'll all go together nicely. I'll post a review next week.

Wine with Thai?

Making a thai green curry for dinner tonight. Want some wine with it, but can't work out what's a good match. Mainly because I want red and it doesn't really go with Red. All the best sounding suggestings (Reisling, Gewurztraminer) are white and I'm pretty sure we don't have any of either.

I have got some Torrontés* that I've been meaning to try. Maybe this could be the time? Otherwise maybe Pinot Noir, of which I have lots to choose.

Hmm. I'll let you know.

Update: had the torrontes, which was really nice. Quite sweet, fruity and floral. Didn't really go with the curry though.

*appears to be no longer available, described here Lorca Torrontés 2008. La Rioja Argentina. Sounds a bit too flowery maybe?