Archive | Veggie Food & Wine Matching RSS feed for this section
Eat, drink, stay Oporto: some new finds, including veggie heaven/haven
More often than not, if I’m in Portugal tasting Douro wines, I’ll be based in the Douro Valley. This trip, time wasn’t on my side but the big plus is that I got to see a little more of Oporto (old town pictured) than usual. And I’m more convinced than ever that I should [...]
Continue reading...Gold top: Quinta da Bacalhoã Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 & sister wine Vinhos Bacalhoã Quinta do Carmo Tinto 2007
Posted Thursday 25th August 2011
I’m a staunch supporter of Portugal’s native grape varieties. With over 450, why stray elsewhere? But even I have to admit that Quinta da Bacalhoã has a winning way with Cabernet Sauvignon. First made in 1979, it’s a terrific rendition of the variety – as rectilinear as they come, with its buttoned up concentrated fruit and straight-backed [...]
Continue reading...A Roman holiday lunch at RSJ with Ursula Ferrigno plus a couple of great Loire whites
Posted Monday 20th June 2011
For five years, my pasta machine has been gathering dust. Yesterday it was granted a reprieve from the ignominy of eBay since this careless lady owner at last got her head around making pasta thanks to Ursula Ferrigno. Ferrigno is a passionate Italian cook, food writer and educator and, in conjunction with Loire specialist RSJ restaurant, runs a series of Sunday Italian [...]
Continue reading...Kent – fruits of the land & sea, a fine weekend destination for food & wine lovers
Posted Sunday 6th March 2011
This time last week I was embraced in the warm clasp of a delicious weekend away. Well-nigh perfect. Since my partner and I both work from home, weekends away offer a much cherished total break from the office. Otherwise I’m seemingly attached to my computer by an invisible piece of elastic – good to remember I’m [...]
Continue reading...Angers fine dining, or not & calling non-meat eaters – RSJ’s monthly Italian Sunday lunches
Posted Sunday 6th February 2011
This time last week I was in Angers for the Salon hanging out with the usual suspects, my fellow Loire diehards Jim Budd, Chris Kissack (The Wine Doctor) and Nigel Wilkinson and Tom King of RSJ restaurant. There’s always an entertaining anecdote or two (at least for them!) about my meals. While the guys run [...]
Continue reading...A cracking food and wine match: Wendouree Cabernet Malbec 1998 & red wine, porcini, shitake and chestnut risotto
Posted Tuesday 11th January 2011
On Saturday I posted the first of three exquisite food and wine matches I enjoyed over Christmas and New Year, Jo Pithon Anjou Les Pepinieres 2005 with baked thyme and garlic-studded Vacherin Mont D`Or (which I served with celery and Poilâne toast). Today, I’m sharing with you my favourite main course match, Wendouree Cabernet Malbec 1998 & red [...]
Continue reading...A cracking food and wine match: Jo Pithon ‘Les Pepinieres’ 2005 & baked Vacherin Mont D`Or
Posted Saturday 8th January 2011
Nothing like Christmas to justify pulling out some favourite wines and tucking into fine food. I was particularly taken with three food and wine matches over the holidays which I thought I’d share with you. The first is Jo Pithon Anjou Les Pepinieres 2005 with baked thyme and garlic-studded Vacherin Mont D`Or (which I served with celery and Poilâne toast). It made [...]
Continue reading...Curry, beer or wine? Both at Trishna, a hot tip
Posted Friday 8th October 2010
I’m passing through Singapore today, back home from my three weeks of wine travel in Australia. Though I’ll just see the airport, it does influence the inflight menu. On the outgoing flight, a very delicious Malay sea bass curry with roti pratha made a fine match for the textured and round, but fresh and slightly spicy, Seppelt [...]
Continue reading...Afros Sparkling Vinhao Reserve – a red Vinho Verde, cracking with sardines!
Posted Friday 23rd July 2010
Visting a leading Vinho Verde producer last Sunday, I was almost embarrassed to admit that my experience of sardines thus far has been limited to the tinned variety. You see I’m not very keen on bones and, in the type of sardines I’ve eaten to date (OK, sardines on toast say 30 years ago), the bone [...]
Continue reading...Joseph d’Elena Pinot Grigio 2009 & Maggie Beer’s cucumber gazpacho – summer in 2 glasses!
Posted Saturday 10th July 2010
On Thursday I had fun at Harvey Nichols presenting some seriously good South Australian wines paired with light bites Aussie style. Aussie style because they featured renowned Barossa chef Maggie Beer’s grape-derived products, which are imported by Australian gourmet specialist Of Wine and Yabbies. Like the wines, they are sold at Harvey Nics. You’ll find the list of wines [...]
Continue reading...Vinhão Vinho Verde & beetroot – summer chilling and living dangerously!
Posted Friday 9th July 2010
Beetroot for dinner last night and what better match, colour-wise at least, than Vinhão. This, Vinho Verde’s lead red variety, is a teinturer grape which means it has red skin and flesh, so its wines are the deepest shade of purple. Amazingly, my beige shorts (pictured below) survived the triple whammy of beetroot and a pair of red Vinho Verde from [...]
Continue reading...50 Great Portuguese Wines – passing the baton
Posted Thursday 17th June 2010
Last January marked the start of my quest to select 50 Great Portuguese Wines 2010 and I’ve loved every minute of the journey: several trips to Portugal, a ton of tasting and, this year, presenting the fruits of my labour in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, yesterday’s final stop. Scotland is home to next year’s incumbent, [...]
Continue reading...Yes chef! Double scoop of Van Zeller
Posted Saturday 17th April 2010
A quick update on last week’s blog here about Van Zeller restaurant in Harrogate. News reaches me of a double scoop – Best Newcomer at the Northern Hospitality Awards 2010 (Tom van Zeller pictured left with his award) and the restuarant is now set to list Cristiano Van Zeller’s wines, which you can taste at [...]
Continue reading...Van Zeller – top notch food in Harrogate
Posted Tuesday 6th April 2010
Readers will be familiar with the name van Zeller in the context of my Douro wine and port reports – Cristiano van Zeller heads up Quinta Vale Dona Maria and I selected two of his wines among my 50 Great Portuguese Wines. So, when my folks suggested we have lunch at Van Zeller Restaurant on [...]
Continue reading...Beetroot, horseradish and white wine…a good match!
Posted Monday 14th December 2009
Just thought I’d share a great veggie/wine food match for a salad of beetroot, pink fir potatoes and mixed leaves, topped with a soft-boiled egg. Earthy beetroot, the bite and kick horseradish & mustard leaves together with an unctuous soft boiled egg make for a challenging wine match. I pondered and came up with [...]
Continue reading...Palladius & pumpkin, a PS
Posted Sunday 13th September 2009
Hey, hot tip for a Palladius food match – have just confirmed in the most delicious way that its honeyed sweetness, girth and complexity find a perfect match in roast squash with porcini. Halve the squash, remove the seeds and fibre, smear the flesh with butter then fill with porcini (I’m no Rockefeller, of the [...]
Continue reading...
Posted Saturday 3rd December 2011
0 Comments