Match of the week

Roast poulet de Bresse and aged Jura chardonnay

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on March 1 2020 at 12:45

Roast chicken with chardonnay - what’s new about that I hear you say? Well, nothing, obviously but imagine some of the BEST chicken you’ve ever eaten and a GREAT chardonnay - in this case the 2005 Stephane Tissot Arbois chardonnay Les Graviers - and it becomes one of those stellar wine pairings you dream about.

It wasn’t the only great wine on the menu which was at a wine dinner at Two Lights in Hackney - there was also a marvellous Crémant de Jura called Indigène, a more youthful 2017 Bruyères chardonnay (served with scallops ‘casino’ with bacon, truffle and I think, almost certainly, butter) and a Vin Jaune La Vasée 2011 which was paired with aged Comté.

But the chicken, which was a poulet de Bresse served with chips and a mustardy hollandaise was the undoubted star. The chardonnay worked in much the same way as a great white burgundy (it's apparently grown on similar limestone soils to Corton Charlemagne) but with a slightly nuttier taste and the most brilliantly refreshing acidity. (We also tasted a couple of red wines with it - a 2016 Côtes du Jura Pinot Noir En Barberon and a 2017 Singulier Trousseau but I thought the chardonnay worked best.)

The best food to pair with chardonnay

If you’re interesting in learning more about Tissot, who cultivates his vines biodynamically, there’s a good Q and A on the Union Square website.

I attended the dinner as a guest of Two Lights

If you found this post helpful and would like to support the website and keep it free for everyone to use it would be great if you could make a donation towards its running costs.

And for more hot tips and recommendations check out my Substack Eat This, Drink That, Live Well.