All photos by Robin Goldsmith, unless otherwise stated.
Beaufort cheese canapé and Te Awanga Syrah
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Top class food & stunning New Zealand wine!
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Add Your Comment The truth about food and wine matching: in defence of its supporters
The debate
There’s been a good deal of talk recently in social media and newspapers about whether wine critics’ advice is worth its salt and whether food and wine matching makes any sense, has genuine scientific worth or is just a load of pretentious nonsense?
The argument
First and foremost, wine should be enjoyed, so if you happen to like drinking Château Plonk with your vindaloo, that’s fine. Yet certain combinations do seem to taste better than others and some combinations are really quite unpleasant. Consider the following. When you bite into a piece of meat or fish and take a sip or swig of wine from your glass, the chances are that some of the meat juices or even bits of fish are still in your mouth. Treat wine in a similar way to a sauce or gravy and all the flavours mingle together. Now, if you are lucky enough to be eating grilled fillet of sea bass, would you want it smothered in gravy? No – because it would be horrible! It would simply not taste right, the gravy ruining the flavour of the fish. This can’t be just a subjective observation, as surely most people would arrive at the same conclusion, so perhaps there is, dare I say, a more scientific reason for this.
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Add Your Comment It’s all in the taste, isn’t it?
The question: should we choose natural and organic food over other produce? The answer: maybe yes and maybe no. I’m putting on my fence-sitting hat here, as for me there cannot be a straight answer. Financial, lifestyle or health choices, including dietary restrictions, often dictate our eating and drinking habits, but for me, the taste of what I’m consuming is of paramount importance. I dislike mass-produced low quality produce, as much as anyone, but just because something is produced on a grand scale and may not qualify as "natural", due to its list of ingredients, does not automatically void it of nutritional or organoleptic worth. However, could the Natural Food Show component of the "Natural & Organic Products Europe Fair" at London’s Kensington Olympia this week convince me to change my eating and drinking habits? I went along to find out more.
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Add Your Comment I predict a riot : well almost!
A selection of wines from the Wines of Sicily Trade Tasting in London
Twenty years ago, I predicted that the England football team should stop playing 4-4-2, as this system was outdated, one-dimensional and would guarantee failure at every major international tournament. Hardly anyone believed me then, but pretty much everybody agrees now. I also predicted that fewer and fewer people would turn out to vote at elections and this also seems to be true.
In terms of wine, a few years ago, I came to the conclusion that perhaps Vinho Verde Tinto was not quite the joke it was sometimes made out to be – even the Portuguese considered it a rather eccentric style of table wine for the home market only. I’ve now seen it advertised in the wine trade press for UK consumption! However, ten years ago, following a holiday to Sicily, I rated the island as a future wine force, as the signs of quality were starting to shine. Having just attended the Wines of Sicily tasting in London, I can definitely say that I was not wrong.
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