Eckington Manor Cookery School - Food and Wine Matching

Wow! What a great food and wine matching event at Eckington Manor last Friday.

Their chef Dean did a marvellous job producing (in such a short space of time) some superb dishes to match to a diverse range of wines. The line-up was as below, I have added some comments on how the wines went with the dishes, the wine voted best match is in blue;

Bosworth Ash goats cheese, sweet potato and local leek fritata
2007 Sancerre, Domaine Chotard, Loire Valley, France
2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, Isabel Estate, New Zealand

The Sancerre was preferred with the fritata as it was lighter in style and more mineral driven and didn't overpower the dish, whereas the New Zealand example was much more pungent and stronger in flavour overpowering what was a delicate goats' cheese.

Warm seared tuna niçoise
2007 Chiaretto, Ca dei Frati, Lombardy, Italy
2007 Tavel Rosé, Domaine de la Mordorée, Rhône Valley, France

The Tavel Rosé was judged the best match with delicious up-front ripe fruit and great weight and flavour. Dean had added sun blushed tomatoes, olives and shallots to the dish which the Tavel stood up to admirably.

Slow cooked Highland beef, thyme and crème fraîche potato cake
2006 Chianti Rufina, Selvapiana, Tuscany, Italy
2006 ‘Jester’ Shiraz, Mitolo, McLaren Vale, Australia

A tight contest here! The Chianti showed typical high acidity and tannin without the food but with the food softened and showed it's true colours, marrying beautifully and lifting the delicious meat flavours. The Jester Shiraz was also a good match, but perhaps a touch overpowering if one was splitting hairs!

Granny Smith apple tart with marzipan ice cream
2006 Coteaux du Layon Chaume, Domaine des Forges, Loire Valley, France
2001 Château La Clotte Cazalis, Sauternes, Bordeaux, France

Both of these wines were an admirable match, however the presence of jam in the base and the marzipan ice cream meant that the sheer weight and botrytis of the Sauternes was the victor.

A great time seemed to be had by all!

Lucy, Jackie and the team were a great help, take a look at their website here

The Upside of the Downturn!

Great wine dinner at Russells of Broadway last night!

Well we are told that we are officially in a recession, but judging by the turnout last night you would never have guessed. Nearly seventy, very happy guests enjoying some of the best value wines in these parts matched to a delicious menu. My opening speech said it all - 'drink smarter'. With the chancellor now taking £1.57 in duty on every bottle (before VAT) we owe it to ourselves to drink wines over the £7-8 mark and get a wine with greater complexity and depth. Sip not sup and spend a bit more. Look for good producers in lesser vintages, Bordeaux's second wines and those level entry wines produced by the great and good (such as Javillier's and Avignonesi's).
The wines tasted last night included;

Prosecco dei Colli Treveigiani IGT Frizzante Ca Morlin, Veneto, Italy
Great easy drinking aperitif
***
2006 Bourgogne Blanc, Cuvée des Forgets, Patrick Javillier, Burgundy, France
Elegant, refined and with delicious underlying minerality. Oak superbly integrated.
***
2005 Rosso Avignonesi, Tuscany, Italy
After a while opened up in the glass, perfumed, elegant, refined and very classy for under a tenner.
***
2005 Château Fayau, Cadillac, Bordeaux, France
Amazing value Sauternes 'look-a-like'. Sweet, balanced and with a good streak of acidity.

The next dinner is an Italian event on Thursday 26th February, if you are interested do book early!

Happy New Year!

Gosh, it has been a while since I posted some news, time has flown by and I cannot believe that the Mitolo dinner in November was the last event I covered.

Since then we have had the Christmas Tasting at Chipping Campden School and the very successful London Tasting at the St. Stephens Club. Christmas flew past and much drinking of special bottles took place....... and now we have our great Bin End Sale.

Well if you are looking for a bargain look no further as there are some marvellous wines at amazing discounts. Move fast as stocks are limited - download the full list here

Don't miss possibly the best value wine dinner ever taking place at Russell's of Broadway on Thursday 22nd January. The title is 'the upside of the downturn' and it features wines (and food) that offer great value for money. At £30 per head which includes an aperitif and three courses each matched to a wine it's just what we need to cheer is up in these uncertain times!
View the full details here