FOOD & FINEST WINES

Red wines

Red Bordeaux and other Cab Sauv-based wines (v. old, light and delicate wines: eg. pre-1959,

with exceptions such as 1945). Leg or rack of young lamb, roast with a hint of herbs (but not

garlic); entrecôte; simply roasted partridge or grouse or sweetbreads.

Fully mature great vintages (eg. Bordeaux 59 61 82 85) Shoulder or saddle of lamb, roast with

a touch of garlic, roast ribs or grilled rump of beef.

Mature but still vigorous (eg. 89 90) Shoulder or saddle of lamb (incl kidneys) with rich sauce.

Fillet of beef marchand de vin (with wine and bone marrow). Avoid beef Wellington: pastry

dulls the palate.

Merlot-based Bordeaux (Pomerol, St-Émilion) Beef as above (fillet is richest) or well-hung

venison.

Côte d’Or red burgundy Consider the wine’s weight and texture, which grow lighter/more

velvety with age, and its character: Nuits is earthy, Musigny flowery, great Romanées can be

exotic, Pommard renowned for its four-squareness. Roast chicken or capon is a safe standard

with red burgundy; guinea fowl for slightly stronger wines, then partridge, grouse, or

woodcock for those progressively more rich and pungent. Hare and venison (chevreuil) are

alternatives.

great old burgundy The Burgundian formula is cheese: Epoisses (unfermented); a fine cheese

but a terrible waste of fine old wines.

vigorous younger burgundy Duck or goose roasted to minimize fat. Or faisinjan (pheasant

cooked in pomegranate juice). Or smoked gammon.

Great Syrahs: Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie, Grange; Vega Sicilia Beef (such as the super-rich,

super-tender, super-slow-cooked ox cheek I had at Vega Sicilia), venison, well-hung game;

bone marrow on toast; English cheese (esp best farm Cheddar) but also hard goats milk and

ewes milk cheeses such as England’s Berkswell and Ticklemore.

Rioja Gran Res, Pesquera… Richly flavoured roasts: wild boar, mutton, saddle of hare, whole

suckling pig.

Barolo, Barbaresco Risotto with white truffles; pasta with game sauce (eg. pappardelle alla

lepre); porcini mushrooms; Parmesan.

Amarone Classically, in Verona, risotto all’Amarone or pastissada. But if your butcher doesn’t

run to horse, then shin of beef, slow-cooked in more Amarone.

Great vintage Port or Madeira Walnuts or pecans. A Cox’s orange pippin and a digestive

biscuit is a classic English accompaniment.