Roast turkey and zinfandel

This last fortnight, you won’t be surprised to hear, has been all about festive food particularly The Bird which we’ve finally despatched but before we move on to healthier fare I wanted to give a shout out to my top pairing for turkey this year which wasn’t even on my hitlist.

It’s zinfandel - or rather a zinfandel blend - the 2013 Geyserville from one of my favourite Californian producers, Ridge. (The other grapes are carignane, petite sirah and mataro aka mourvèdre) Five years on from harvest it was still wonderfully vibrant but with a delicious mellowness from a bit of bottle age. It took all the big flavours on the plate in its stride actually outshining the other bottle we had on the table, a 2007 Pomerol from Chateau La Conseillante although that was lovely too. (Both better suited to the main turkey dinner than the leftovers though, note)

If you fancy buying some Corks of Cotham have it at the best price I could spot in the UK at £39.99. Yes, I know that’s expensive but we didn’t pay that for it though more than the £18-odd I can remember it cost when it first came across my radar.

So bear that in mind for next year. I’ll be updating the post shortly!

Thanks for visiting the site in 2018 and a very happy new year to you all.

Palais Royal and Roquefort

We’ve been down in the Languedoc for the past week, revisiting some of the winemakers we haven’t seen for a while. They included Domaine de l’Arjolle, one of the first wineries we bought from when we bought a holiday home down here in the early 1990s.

Like most wineries in those days they were running the whole thing on a shoestring and the winery was pretty ramshackle. I seem to remember an old mattress being propped up against the cellar wall (maybe for some unfortunate cellar hand who was deputed to keep an eye on the tanks overnight) but nowadays they have a pukka tasting room and cellar and obviously welcome a fair number of visitors.

The owner Louis-Marie Teisserenc (right) remembered that I was interested in food and wine pairing and produced a series of impromptu snacks to partner the wines as we went along. I have to confess I couldn’t resist trying some superb foie gras sprinkled with red wine-flavoured ‘sel de vin’ which was sensationally good with their late picked - but dry - Dernier Cueillette Chardonnay 2007.*

What Teisserenc referred to as ‘black pooding’ (aka boudin noir) was a pretty good match with their oddball Zinfandel ‘Z’ de l’Arjolle though the 2008 vintage was much lighter than the luxuriant 2007 I enjoyed earlier this year (which still seems to be available in Oddbins at £16.49).

But the pairing I think worked best was which the domaine has modelled on Banyuls. It's less sweet than port which I think worked particularly well with the salty Roquefort, just adding a nice touch of macerated cherry fruit. I'm sure it would be terrific with dark chocolate too.

Frustratingly the wine only seems to be available in France and Holland but I’d give Banyuls a try as an alternative.

* This is, I have to confess, the second time I’ve eaten foie gras recently, despite my resolution to give it up a couple of years ago. I can resist it on a menu - it's just hard when someone waves it under your nose. I just wish it wasn’t so delicious.

Chilli con carne and American brown ale

If you’re lighting a few fireworks for the kids (or yourselves, of course . . . ) tonight and hanging round in the cold you’ll need some warming food and a good chilli hits the spot perfectly

You can drink wine with it (I always think Zinfandel goes pretty well) but for me it’s a dish that’s much better with beer.

Ideally I’d be looking for an American brown ale but they’re hard to get hold of in the UK and a Belgian brune such as Leffe’s would work perfectly well. (The classic English brown ale like Mann’s is too light and too sweet in my opinion, and Newcastle Brown slightly too bitter)

Aubergine (eggplant) and Zinfandel

This coming weekend sees the 16th annual festival of the Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP) in San Francisco. I went one year and it was an absolute blast - two great sheds filled with hundreds of enthusiasts enjoying this great belter of a red.

Zinfandel is believed to come originally from Croatia but is essentially the same variety as southern Italy’s Primitivo. And it does pair very well with the strong flavours of southern Italian food especially cooked tomatoes and aubergine/eggplant. It’s a great wine to drink with an aubergine bake or with pasta dishes like the Rigatoni with Aubergine, Sausage and Zinfandel sauce in Winelovers Kitchen. And I love matching it with a good moussaka or a lamb and aubergine stew

At the time of writing there were still tickets available for Thursday’s Good Eats and Zinfandel Pairing event which takes place from 6-9pm at the Fort Mason Center at the Herbst Pavilion where a selection of the 300 wineries that are exhibiting offer a dish to go with their wines. Click on the name of the event for details - featured dishes include Zinfandel braised wild boar with truffled polenta, mussels with chorizo and black beans, braised buffalo osso buco and BBQ ribs.

Image © Николай Григорьев - Fotolia.com