Match of the week

Carrot, lemon and tahini soup with Roussanne

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on October 18 2021 at 08:19

i haven't written about soup and wine for ages - I've always felt a bit ambivalent about it on the grounds that it seems counter-intuitive to pair one liquid with another - but this is the second post in as many weeks (the other one being here)

This time it was a rich carrot soup from Ruby Tandoh’s clever new book Cook As You Are but unusual in that it included tahini and lemon. I happened to have a bottle of the South African producer Rustenberg’s 2020 Roussanne open which worked really well being quite full-flavoured itself but with a freshness that complemented and underlined the lemony notes in the soup. (I also tried a vermentino but it was too sharp so reckon an old vine chenin blanc or Cape white blend would have worked too as would a white Côtes du Rhône.)

Roussanne is an underrated grape variety that’s most often found in a white Rhône blend but has a seductively peachy character of its own. I’ve also enjoyed it with roast chicken.

You can buy this one from branches of Booths and Lea & Sandeman in London for £12.50 or online from SAwines.co.uk for £10.99 a bottle. Rustenberg does a good malbec too.

For other soup pairings check out my post on matching wine and soup

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