Matching food and wine: cheese and meat

Wondering about the theme of food and wine matching, @winebizkid and I found ourselves at the Bakerie in Manchester, where we tested a wine against three different cheeses and three different meats.

what we drank

Lagrein Cantina Tramin 2011 (Alto Adige, £29.95). Indigenous to the Alto Adige region (a heavily Germanic area also called Südtirol), Lagrein is a grape described by Oz Clarke in Grapes and Wines as having "a flavour of sour plums...bitter cherries, some black chocolate richness and deep, dark colour, but it is not very tannic," which sums up the wine we tasted well. Despite that lack of tannins, the chocolately dark fruits and its high acidity meant that it was strong enough to stand up to the cheeses and meats, and indeed overpowered some of them.

a table of wine, cheeses, and meat, with accoutrements

 

what we ate

three meats

chorizo - hot, spicy chorizo with a wine from Teutonic Italy: there was enough depth of flavour to the wine to hold up to the powerful tastes of chorizo cooked in a wine sauce, but it needed more of the oaky tannins of a Spanish wine to soak up the juicy, spicy meat.

lamb kofta - the high acidity of the wine added a needed juiciness to this Mediterranean lamb skewer; however, the minty lamb and the wine's chocolate fruit were an interesting but not quite convincing contrast.

serrano - the beautiful, soft, gorgeous flavours of the ham were lost in the dark fruits of the wine: both fantastic food and drink, but to be tried separately. (This is where I started eulogising about sherry, and how fino would be a perfect partner to this ham.)

three cheeses

lancashire - this was my favourite of the cheeses: soft and crumbly with a dry, salty finish. The wine added acidity and fruitiness to the cheese, but the cheese's subtle finish ended up being dominated by the wine. This is a cheese that would go well with the mature, red fruit flavours of a Burgundy Pinot Noir.

halloumi - with halloumi, the cheese squeaks in the mouth, pops, and then disappears. It's great, but a unique sensation. Tasting it with the wine was something similar: an immediate satsifaction followed by confusion at the competing flavours.

smoked cheddar - such a smoky cheese can dominate a wine that lacks body or intensity, but the Lagrein perfectly complemented the cheese's smokiness with its earthy fruitiness. This was a wine and cheese match that just kept on giving, demonstrating that a food and a wine from different parts of Europe can have attributes that work very well together.

smoked cheddar and Lagrein: a perfect pairing

overall

The wine, made from the Lagrein grape, high in acidity, relatively low in tannin, went better with the cheeses than the meat, yet it was the cheese with the strongest flavour that it worked best with, and one that wasn't a regional pairing. This showed the purpose, and fun, of experimentation: finding out which foods and wines unexpectedly go together, in this case English smoked cheddar and Alto Adige Lagrein. Of course, the experiment would have been more complete if we had tried more wines, but there were only two of us...

Drinking (and eating) for Christmas

Last Thursday, I celebrated my first ever Thanksgiving, followed on Friday by my second. I can now see why Americans make such a big deal of it - the cold, dark days of November are brightened by food, wine, friends, and family. It also introduces the festive season, and got me in the mood for Christmas much earlier than I usually am.

This had me reflecting on food and wine pairings for the Christmas season and what wines I should be thinking of getting in. Like Thanksgiving, Christmas is a time for rich foods and you need to find wines to match. That doesn't limit your options though; instead it increases the range of food and wine pairings you can come up with.

food & wine

 

Pairing food and wine is taken very seriously by some, with extremely specific recommendations offered. Trying to match flavours in both wine and food is great up to a point, but it's difficult to find such exact matches. It's much more fun experimenting and you'll discover surprisingly successful pairings. However, there are some guidelines that are useful to follow. Don't try and match the flavours, but think instead about their intensity: neither the wine nor the dish should overwhelm the other. Likewise, think about acidity and sweetness: the two should roughly correspond.

the line-up from Thursday's Thanksgiving, showing just how many styles of wine fit this kind of meal

turkey

 

Turkey is a food high in acidity, so you need a wine to match. But with all the sauces and side dishes that come with it at Christmas, the wine has to have enough depth of flavour. For whites, think of a dry Riesling: the crisp acidity and lively citrus flavours will cut into the turkey's richness. We had Billi Billi Riesling from Mt. Langi Ghiran in Victoria, Australia (hangingditch, £12.50); although delicate, its fresh acidity provided an invigorating contrast to the heaviness of the food. Alternatively, a full-bodied white will fit in with a weighty Christmas meal. For the second Thanksgiving celebration, we tried an aromatic blend from Prieuré de St-Jean-de-Bébian, Languedoc (Spirited Wines, Deansgate, around £18); rich, creamy, and nutty, it went well with the mash and béchamel sauce.

For reds, Pinot Noir is a classic pairing. With its high acidity and red fruits, Pinot Noir is not just a great match for turkey but also for the accompanying cranberry sauce. We tried two very different Pinot Noirs, which demonstrated how two wines can interact with food in varying ways. I brought one that I had tried on a recent trip to Oregon. White Rose Estate (unavailable UK; $60) describe themselves as "neo-classical"; the combination of upfront red fruits (New World style) and grainy tannins (Old World style) paired deliciously well with the turkey: like adding a juicy sauce to add on to the cranberry. The Digioia-Royer Chambolle-Musigny Vieille Vignes 2004 was a maturer, more reflective wine and quite a contrast (hangingditch, £35). Here, the earthy flavours acted more like a mushroom sauce. When choosing a wine, do think of its age: a youthful, fruity wine will be quite a different match than an older wine.

Oregon 2011 v Burgundy 2004

goose

 

Not something we had at Thanksgiving, goose is an increasingly popular alternative to turkey on Christmas Day in the UK. Again, acidity is all important; you also need a wine that will cut through the fat. An Alsatian Riesling will do just that, while something richer and creamier like oaky Chardonnay or aromatic Pinot Gris will add so much flavour. For reds, you can stick with Pinot Noir, but, as goose is a bigger, fattier dish than turkey, you can go big and get a wine with lots of oak and tannins - wines from South-West France, such as Madiran, are great options. A less obvious alternative could be a Portuguese red, particularly from the Douro.

pudding

 

Here, you really are spoilt for choice as there are so many great sweet wines out there. The important thing to remember is that the food should have at least the same level of sweetness as the wine. As puddings at Christmas are full of all sorts of rich, sweet flavours, that shouldn't be a problem. Pedro Ximénez sherry is the perfect option: its rich, dark, toffee flavours are sublime with Christmas pudding. And, of course, port is the ideal drink to finish off a long meal. There are two particular styles that work especially well at Christmas: the chocolate and dark fruits of a Late Bottled Vintage or the more mature fruits of a Vintage Port. Two wines I would recommend from hangingditch are Portal LBV 2008 (£20) and Delaforce 1994 (£55), the latter of which we tried with our dessert at Thanksgiving: the balanced fruity sweetness went so well with the pumpkin pie. Quite simply, there is no better way to end a meal than with a decadent dessert and a sumptuous sweet wine: roll on Christmas!

Sherry - for life, not just for Christmas

Like German wines and Beaujolais, the sherry industry boomed in the 1970s and 80s and its reputation has never recovered since. It's too often seen as sweet and to be drunk at Christmas - and it's probably the same bottle that's used each year before it finally runs out ten years later. I hope things are changing. The UK is the traditional market for fortified wines and when I started working at hangingditch last year I was pleased to see how many people came in asking for sherry and how knowledgeable they were about the different styles. It's time more people knew just how good sherry is.

So why drink sherry?

Sherry comes in a vast array of styles, which can be understandably bewildering, but there's likely to be a sherry out there which suits your tastes. This also means sherry goes with lots of different foods; from a bowl of salted nuts to vanilla ice cream, there'll be a sherry as a perfect accompaniment. So, different styles for different tastes and different foods, and, what's more, it always presents incredibly good value.

What is sherry?

To be called sherry in the EU, the drink has to come from the area around Jerez in Andalucia. Sherry is made from white wine which is fortified with a brandy spirit after fermentation. This means that sherry is a naturally dry wine; unlike port, whose sweetness comes from fortifying the base wine during fermentation, sweetness in sherry comes from adding a sweet liquid to the wine (there's one exception to this, see Pedro Ximénez below). Sherry is nearly always a blend of different years, aged in large oak barrels where exposure to air is all important. This interaction with oxygen is where the characteristic sherry aroma comes from.

Sherries to try

Sanchez Romate Fino Perdido - a fino that's been aged much longer than standard, simply because the winemakers forgot about the wine. This wine is nutty, yeasty, and bready; wonderful depth of flavour, yet delicate. Widely available at less than £15 a bottle - a seriously good wine at a seriously great price.

Valdespino Manzanilla Deliciosa - Valdespino have been making wine for 700 years and are one of the area's best producers. This single-vineyard manzanilla is sensational - bready, salty, nutty, spicy, with apple peel. Another steal at £12.50 a bottle from hangingditch.

Osborne Venerable Pedro Ximénez - ebony black in colour, intensely sweet, flavours of treacle and toffee, this will turn plain vanilla ice cream into one of the most decadent meals of your life. £26 from the Wine Society.
 

The different types of sherry

Although it can be confusing, knowing about the different styles of sherry will help you pick the right sherry for the right occasion. Here's a table to sort out the different levels of sweetness and oxidisation in sherries:

fino (15.5%) - the sherry that defies stereotypes of sherry as a sweet, rich wine to be drunk with trifle. A fino is golden in colour, bone dry, best drunk chilled, and perfect as a summer apertif. It's generally 15.5% ABV, but delicate and fragrant. It's aged for a relatively short time and is designed to be drunk young (always try and finish the bottle off the night you open it!). Food pairing: cured ham or hard cheese.

manzanilla (15.5%) -  made in the same way as fino, but it has to come from the seaside town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. The proximity to the sea gives manzanilla a fresh, salty character. Food pairing: seafood, particularly langostinos.

amontillado (17%) - is exposed to air much more than a fino, meaning that the oxygen in the atmosphere turns the drink a rusty brown colour, also giving the wine a nutty character. Food pairing: goat's cheese salad.

oloroso (17-20%) - whereas finos and amontillados are initially protected from oxygen by the layer of yeast that forms on top of the wine (called flor), an oloroso is exposed to oxygen throughout its maturation, which means that an oloroso is always a rich, dark brown colour - the darker it is, the older the wine. Expect caramel and nutty flavours. Food pairing: red meat or game; get out the artichokes and asparagus too, because, unlike a red wine, an oloroso will stand up to their flavours. 

palo cortado (17-22%) - the most unusual of sherries, in that it's a mixture of amontillado and oloroso, undergoing one or more refortifications. It's fuller bodied that an amontillado, but less heavy than an oloroso - and the style will differ according to the producer. Food pairing: something Asian; sherry is one of the few wines that won't be overpowered by spicy food and the robust yet delicate nature of palo cortado is ideal.

Pedro Ximénez (PX) (17-22%) - one of the maddest drinks there is, especially if it's gone through a long ageing process. Its colour is dark, sometimes to the point of jet black, its flavours intensely sweet, which comes from drying the grapes to the point of being like raisins. One of the best dessert wines, as it can stand up to any food no matter how sweet. Food pairing: pour a tablespoon of PX over vanilla ice cream, giving the ice cream rich toffee and treacle flavours. So indulgent and decadent, and so fantastic!

Amontillados and olorosos are sometimes sweetened, either by adding unfermented grape juice or PX to the wine. A sweet oloroso is also called Cream Sherry. Food pairing: a chocolate- or fruit-based dessert.