Match of the week

Ginger and chilli marinated aubergine with Lacryma Christi

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on March 28 2023 at 06:12

Recently I’ve had a bit of a thing about pairing aubergines with orange wine especially if they’re cooked in a middle-Eastern style but it was actually an unusual red that went with this dish at the Uruguayan tasting at 67 Pall Mall the other day.

It was a variety that’s more common in Italy called Lacryma Christi (tear of Christ) and is generally a blend of other grapes such as Piedirosso and Sciascinoso. This version from Uruguay was made by Fiorella Faggiani Bohemian by Fiore using minimal intervention techniques (indigenous yeasts, old oak barrels and left unfined and unfiltered) and was a vibrant, slightly rustic red not dissimilar to a barbera.

It was particularly good with the aubergine which had been marinated in ginger and chilli and topped with a pepper, walnut and watercress salad - so slightly spicy but not excessively so. And relatively modest in alcohol at 13.5%. Sadly I can't find it for sale in the UK but I'm guessing an Italian Lacryma Christi Rosso would also work.

The other pairing that was great at the lunch was a crab risotto with a liine-up of different albarinos but I’m sure you can imagine that ...

I attended the lunch as a guest of Uruguay Wine.

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