Liquors & Lace  Musings on fine wine & spirits.  Little notes on beautiful things.  Stylish picks and high-fashion loves.

Blog for Imbibe:  Local Food, Local Wine

“The Italians do it best. Or at least in terms of regional food and wine, they’re certainly hot property at the moment. London restaurants Bocca di Lupo and the Polpo clan are bright and buzzing Italian offerings in a sea of drab pizzeria chains, serving up small plates ranging from crostino to fritto misto and battuto from their respective Italian regions. Yet where it gets really exciting is when these flavour-packed dishes are paired with wines from their local area, exacting a beautiful harmony between the flavours, textures and aromas…”

My second blog post for Imbibe is now live. Grab yourself a nice glass (or bottle) of something and have a read.

Tasting Note:  La Petit Fessardiere Muscadet Sur Lie by Alexis Sauvion, Loire 2009 & Pinot Grigio by Specogna, Colli Orentali del Friuli 2008

When done right, food and wine matching can bring out the best in both parties, creating an overall coherent blend of scents, flavours and textures.  This evening I was cooking dinner for my mother’s birthday and used it as a thinly-veiled excuse to try out some classic food and wine matches.

The starter, pictured above, was moules mariniere - mussels cooked in garlic, onions, herbs and cream.  Using a little white wine in the cooking, I also found that the Muscadet I’d chosen made a perfect accompaniment to the dish, natural as it’s a famed accompaniment for seafood.  Often aged Sur Lie, Muscadet can have a lovely roundness to the palate, and on La Petit Fessardiere, citrus fruit and melon flavours were softened out by this aging but also had enough bite to cut through the richness of the cream sauce and the mussels.

Keeping a little Muscadet to try with the main course - a white fish and asparagus risotto - it also made for an ample match.  The other bottle chosen to pair was equally pleasant and in fact, rather interesting on its own.  A Pinot Grigio by Specogna from the appellation of Colli Orentali del Friuli in Italy, it possessed an enchanting copper-tinged amber appearance, with a toasty nose of faint apple and hazelnut notes, and gentle white flower aromas.  The palate was mouthwateringly fresh, with apple fruit having a limey tang, and some nuttiness and minerality leading to a long, fresh and dry finish.  Beautifully complex and from someone who previously dismissed Pinot Grigio as “boring”, well worth a try.

(Photo taken with iPhone & instagram)