|
Easter is coming and on the Moncreiff show on News Talk 106-108FM today (Friday
30th March 07 at 3.25pm) we’ll be tasting the perfect wine to drink with chocolate. Oh and
another one to drink with the lamb and something fresh and white to have with
fishy starters.
We’ll all eat more
chocolate than is good for us over Easter and not just the kids. Save some for
after a meal and sip this wonderful wine with it. I’ve been fortunate enough
to participate in chocolate and wine tastings before now in the search for the
perfect match and the hands down winner is always a Banyuls or a Maury, the
sweet fortified wines from Southern France, made from Grenache. We’ll be
trying a Gerard Bertrand Banyuls from
O’Briens by at €22 per bottle. Not cheap but you only need a little as
its 16 or 17% abv. Mas Amiel Maury
is probably the most widely available example but plenty of retailers and
restaurants stock a Banyuls these days as a search on wine-searcher.com will
reveal.
Many of us will be eating
lamb (please save the turkey for Christmas) and to be honest it’s harder to
find a red that doesn’t go with lamb than one that does. Many claim Claret has
a special affinity and yes it would be a good time to pull the cork on a fancy
bottle of Bordeaux that you’ve been saving. Other regions to claim a special
relationship with lamb include Beaujolais, especially the fuller flavoured
single village wines like Moulin-A-Vent, Brouilly or Fleurie. Red Burgundy would
be fine but finding a good one is so hard. Rioja is the Spanish classic to have
with roast lamb but many an Aussie would demand you consider a Cabernet from
Coonawarra, which even has hints of mint in the flavour.
 Southern France with its
regional wines made from blends of grapes like Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault,
Carignan and Mourvedre would be an excellent choice as they tend to be medium
bodied with a slight touch of herbs and spice wines. Well be tasting a Fitou I
bought in the Auchan sale in Cherbourg last week. It’s a bag in box, 3 litre
for just €11! Sadly not available in Irealnd but there are plenty of wines
available from places like Fitou, Minervois, Faugères and Coteaux de Languedoc.
To be honest the first thing
that caught my eye about this wine was the name, Seignieurs
d’Arse. I could only think of Father Jack’s character on Father
Ted with his demented rantings of Arse, Feck, Girls, Drink, especially as News
Talk Henry McKean had been telling me about how he had compared the lovely girls contest
at the Father Ted festival. Thankfully the wine was actually pretty good.
White wine lovers or those
looking for a wine for a prawn or smoked salmon starter should get down to
Dunnes and fill their boots with Mitchelton Blackwood
Riesling 2005, reduced from €9.99 to €7.99 until April 17th. This is on my
shortlist every year for 'best value white wine of the year' at the regular price
so now you really should buy by the case. I’ve tasted vintages of this wine at
5 or 6 years old and they are sublime. Australia’s Clare Rieslings are famous
and rightly so but this is from Central Victoria.
|
