Match of the week

Petit Munster and Gewürztraminer

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on April 10 2023 at 12:47

Sometimes Match of the Week is not so much about an undiscovered pairing but one that’s executed in a particularly inventive way. Which was absolutely the case at a dinner at Monica Galetti’s restaurant Mere last week with the famous Alsace producer Famille Hugel.

She paired a cheese course of Petit Munster, a washed rind cheese from the same region, with toasted rosehip bread and gewürztraminer jelly with a magnificent 2012 Grossi Laue Gewürztraminer. The cheese was perfectly matured but not over-ripe and the touch of sweetness in the accompaniments were just enough to enhance the opulence of the wine.

You can still buy the 2012 from Hedonism in London for £48.40 which is obviously not cheap but you could obviously substitute a less expensive gewürztraminer, though ideally with a couple of years bottle age. And you can find Petit Munster in good speciality cheese shops like the Fine Cheese Company

I also loved a dish of stonebass with razor clams, monks beard, fennel and wild garlic with Hugel’s 2014 Jubilee riesling - again quite bold flavours to partner with a mature wine but the riesling stood up to it.

For other gewürztraminer pairings see The best food pairings for Gewürztraminer.

I attended the dinner as a guest of Mere.

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