Category: Media

BAY RADIO SUNDAY BRUNCH WINE RECOMMENDATION

Oh No! Presenters Bob and Noelle share an empty glass!

POT ROAST CHICKEN
 
As we’ve said before chicken is very wine-friendly and even with the bacon input white wine lovers would still be able to enjoy their tipple, if the white had been fermented, and probably aged, in oak. The tomatoes and anchovies again would also be happy to accommodate white wine – I think a Garnacha Blanca with a maximum of six months in oak would be a good match.
 
However I feel the best partner would be red wine and I’d suggest that listeners and readers might like to try reds from DO Tarragona. Here you’ll find a host of red wine varieties that are not often seen – the superbly named Ull de Llebre is also known as Tempranillo in most of the rest of Spain and there is Garnacha and Cariñena as well as globetrotter Cabernet Sauvignon.
 
Combinations of these varieties with a maximum of 12 months in oak, to retain good fruit presence, will suit this dish very nicely thank you! De Muller is a very large producer, but there are others too.
 
Salud!

BAY RADIO’S SUNDAY BRUNCH WINE RECOMMENDATION!

Lancashire Hotpot
 
I lived in Southport, Lancashire, when I was a boy (Local Government re-organisation meant it became Merseyside at a later date, much to the chagrin of the locals) so I’m very familiar with this dish!
 
It’s a meaty stew-style dish with loads of full-flavoured juices emanating from the lamb and kidneys and it needs a wine robust enough to stand up to such full-on tastes and aromas but one that can also add to the whole experience.
 
It has to be red wine and as it’s Lamb based I’d go for a Rioja Crianza or perhaps a slightly fuller Ribera del Duero. That should to the trick!
 
Salud!

BAY RADIO’S SUNDAY BRUNCH WINE RECOMMENDATIONS

Presenters Noelle and Bob enjoy the monthly on-air wine tastings!
Pumpkin Soup
 
There’s an element of sweetness running through this dish – the pumpkin, of course, but also carrots and gently fried onion plus, to an extent, the cream too. However there are balancing, more savoury, vegetal flavours such as the stock and the celery. It all makes for a super soup, but a difficult wine match!
 
White wine devotees may find solace in an off dry white wine, but not with too much forward fruit – a fairly bland white therefore, perhaps from the Airèn grape variety with a touch of residual sugar remaining.
 
However I think the best partner, though not perfect, would be a young, light, fruity red. Joven (young) Cariñena wines always have good fruit content and often savoury, herby note too. Or perhaps better still would be a young wine from Bierzo, whose unique indigenous grape variety, Mencía also carries an earthy, mineral characteristic which would suit this dish well.
 
Salud!

BAY RADIO’S SUNDAY BRUNCH WINE!

Duck à l’Orange:
 
Although French sounding this is more of an English way of serving Duck. Succulent duck breasts with a rich, quite sweet orange sauce – super. But, not so easy to pair with wine as the savoury nature of the fowl is changed somewhat by the sweetness of the honey and sugar as well as that of the fresh orange juice, which also has a touch of acidity too!
 

Oops, an empty glass - this will never do on Bay Radio's On-Air Wine Tasting!

A white wine will be best with this I think. However red wine lovers may like to try a red wine made by the carbonic maceration method, as is Beaujolais (which would be a good match, were we in France). So look for a Tempranillo or Monastrell grape variety made by this method (it will be written on the label).

 
A better match, I think, will be a white wine with some residual sugar – so an off-dry wine will be lovely. Torres does such a wine, but from the Valencia region you might like to look for a ‘dry’ Moscatel – these wines do have some sweetness but nothing like the full-on sweetness of the dessert wines made from the same grape.
 
An alternative would be to use a dry wine made with Moscatel but with another variety in the blend too – perhaps Chardonnay, or Sauvignon.
 
Salud!