Two exciting new pairings for asparagus

I’ve been thinking about the tricky subject of wine with asparagus for long enough to have come up with a number of different pairings but I came across two this week that were really a bit of a revelation.

The first was part of a meal at The Cauldron in St Werbergh’s, Bristol which is running a pop-up outdoor (covered) chef’s table called The Table* at which chef Henry Eldon serves a number of delicious courses from his wood-fired oven. One was a dish of chargrilled Wye Valley asparagus with ‘last year’s’ strawberries’, a fruity note which was perfectly echoed by the fresh tasting Corsican rosé from Domaine Vico TV presenter Andy Clarke had put on the wine list which, in a nice local touch, is sourced entirely from Bristol merchants and importers. The strawberries, which were lightly pickled (I think), created the bridge to the wine that made it particularly successful but dry rosé is pretty nice with asparagus anyway.

The other - also from Corsica - was the 2020 Sartène Blanc, a fabulously fragrant vermentino from Domaine Saparale, part of a line-up of spring and summer wines I tasted with Jason Yapp from Yapp Brothers and which we then again enjoyed with asparagus, this time with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and seasalt. Possibly one of the best asparagus pairings I’ve come across, I reckon because, as with the first pairing, the asparagus was served with olive oil rather than butter.

You can buy it from Yapp’s for £18.25 - which is not cheap but well worth it for a really lovely white that I suspect it will only get better over the summer

For other asparagus pairings see also Top wine pairings with asparagus

Unfortunately the Table is booked solid until July but follow them on thecauldronrestaurant on instagram to find out when the next booking period opens

Seabass crudo, Felsina olive oil and Meriggio sauvignon blanc

Given that I’m not a massive sauvignon fan it might surprise you that it features as my match of the week for the second successive week but it’s a question of quality. With the right dish good sauvignon is a joy.

In this case it was a starter of raw sea bass which was drizzled with Chianti producer Felsina’s 2016 olive oil and seasoned with marjoram, lemon and sea salt. And it will probably surprise you less that it was served at The River Café as part of an amazing olive oil tasting and lunch hosted by David Gleave of Liberty Wines.

Although the sea bass, herbs and salt played their part it was really the gorgeous grassy olive oil that showed off the wine, echoing its own herbal notes but bringing out its elegant citrus character as well.

These Tuscan producers only make their oils in very small quantities so you need to reserve them just as you would an in-demand wine. In the UK The Oil Merchant is a reliable source but good Italian delis, department store food halls and larger, posher supermarkets such as Waitrose should stock them in due course too. (Just make sure it's the 2016 vintage you're buying). They won't be cheap but they raise humble ingredients such as tomatoes, good bread and pasta to spectacular heights.

The best price I can find online for the Meriggio which is made by Fontodi, is £16.50 at winedirect.co.uk. Which is roughly the price you'd pay for a good Sancerre.

I attended the tasting and lunch as a guest of Liberty Wines.

Young red rioja and menestra (Spanish vegetable stew)

Of all the great food and wine pairings I experienced in Rioja last week this was the most unexpected.

We were being taught how to make one of my favourite Spanish dishes menestra at Bodegas Beronia - a complicated vegetable stew that involves practically every seasonal local vegetable including cardoons, chard, cauliflower, onions, peas and artichokes (though each cook has his/her own version)

You’d think the last thing that would go with it - and particularly the artichokes - would be their vividly fruity 2010 special production Rioja tempranillo but quite the contrary. it just sang with the mildly flavoured dish.

I think it was probably a combination of things - the acidity of the wine* and the fact that it was quite dry together with the fact that the vegetables had been cooked for so long (2-3 hours) and that more tricky-to-match vegetables had lost their aggressive edge. And the oil. Always in Spain the olive oil ....

* the fact that it came from the 2010 vintage may have helped too - not quite as lush a vintage as the 2009.

New season's olive oil and vino novo

Last week I went on a flying visit to Tuscany to take part in the olive oil harvest and had the rare treat of being able to sample oil that has just been pressed. As you can see from the picture, it’s an incredible colour - literally deep olive green and has the most fantastic grassy flavour.

The family who make the oil - the LoFranco family of Fattoria La Vialla - throw a weekly feast for the visiting pickers during which the oil is liberally poured on everything from toasted bread to pasta to grilled meat (rabbit with fennel in this instance).

To go with it they pour a wine called Vino Novo, the wine from the new harvest which is only drunk during this period. Unlike Beaujolais Nouveau it’s not subject to carbonic maceration but simply siphoned direct from the tank. It was made from Merlot and wasn’t much more than 12% I would guess - deliciously light and gulpable with a bright fruit character that balanced beautifully with the slight bitterness of the oil. I can’t think of another wine that would have suited it better.