Match of the week

Salmon sashimi and dry Languedoc rosé

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on June 4 2012 at 09:05

Not, I admit, the sort of starter you expect to be served on your first night in France - or the wine you’d expect to go with it - but the pairing, at the Château du Port in Marseillan*, worked perfectly.

Rosé, of course, is the most flexible of wines so one shouldn’t be too surprised but the key thing is that the rosé in question - the 2011 Les Amandiers from Château de la Liquière in Faugères, a blend of Cinsault, Mourvèdre, Grenache and Carignan was really crisp and dry - similar to a Provence rosé in style.

The sashimi was served with thinly sliced cucumber and black radish which provided a contrasting touch of freshness and bitterness which assisted the match without adding any competing flavours.

Good though the dish was though I’m not sure that it wasn’t more about the environment in which we found ourselves: the first night of our holiday, a gorgeous sunny evening and a bottle of one of our favourite local wines. It shows matches are sometimes as much about mood as food.

*Incidentally the Château du Port used to be run by the Pourcel brothers who own Le Jardin des Sens in Montpellier but was sold last year. The new owners seem to be doing a good job though.

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