Food and wine matching

As someone who enjoys cooking, grows his own vegetables, has an interest in environmental matters and loves wine then the latest press release from Cono Sur’s PR agency caught my eye.


They got a number of wine experts together to pair Cono Sur's wines with seasonal produce. Now food and wine matching is not something I spend a lot of time thinking about so I have agree with Sarah Jane Evans who says that you shouldn't spend TOO much time worrying about getting the perfect combination. 


It's an interesting lineup of wine experts around the table and given who they are ( BBC Good Food’s Master of Wine Sarah Jane Evans, The Wine Gang’s Jane Parkinson, Channel 4’s ‘The Cookery School’ wine expert Ewan Lacey, and Saturday Kitchen’s Master of Wine Peter Richards), the video is well worth watching. It is also only 6 minutes in length so is perfectly digestable if you'll excuse the pun.


It was only looking at the video on You Tube that I noticed a number of other Cono Sur videos. Considering the time and effort that must have gone into preparing them, it's shame they don't get more air time as they are well presented.


Check out the video and leave me a comment on what you think. 

Seasonal food and wine matching video

Wines of Croatia

I had my first exposure to a large number of Croatian wines at the Wines of Croatia tasting last week in London. Price and availability seem to be key issues from talking to other attendees but there don't seem to be any quality issues as I thought the standard pretty good.

There were two standout wines for me:


* Cossetto Malvazija Rustica 2009 made from grapes picked 30 days later than normal which gives it glorious ripe peach and spice flavours.


* Clai Sv Jakov 2009 with lovely honeyed marmalade aromas but not in any way sweet, perfect balance with a touch of spice on the finish.


These two wines certainly showed the quality that is possible from the indigenous strain called malvasia istriana. 


The Wine Gang had selected a range of wines across the spectrum of styles and this was a great intro. However I was less than impressed with the reds from plavac mali reminding me in a small way of salted anchovies rather than the zinfandel/primitivo parentage it is supposed to have.


Although availability may be a problem Pacta Connect stock a wide variety.


Now if only I could correctly pronounce some of the region and grape names.......!