Geoff's cauliflower and stilton soup presents a few wine-matching problems.
Firstly, should you match a wine to the soup and move on to something else with the main, or should you choose one bottle that would suit both dishes? I would normally suggest a wine per course to save compromising on suitability for either one.
And secondly, do you go with red or white? Both would certainly work if carefully chosen, so you have to think about the wine that will follow. It's difficult, though not impossible, to start with red and then move back to white. So if you've planned a white with the main, you should choose a white to go with the soup. However if you have a big red in mind for the main course, you can choose a lighter red (or a white) to start.
I think the white option would work best of all, so my first choice this week is an Australian Semillon Chardonnay. This used to be a very common combination of grapes, but it has recently fallen out of fashion due to our unreasonable dislike of the Chardonnay grape. When it's done well, the wine will be lemony fresh in its youth, gaining a slightly toasty complexity with age. It's also a very food-friendly blend.
Pheasant Gully Semillon Chardonnay 2013 (M&S, £8.50). This is zippy and zesty and the perfect foil to Geoff's soup. It's also a steal at under a tenner.
If you'd rather choose a red, you'll have to go for something with a reasonable amount of acidity. The Italian Barberas from Piedmont would do the trick without breaking the bank.
Try a bottle of the Barbera d'Alba Suculé Lo Zoccolaio 2011 (Majestic, £11.99) with the soup, a nice stew or a classic lasagne.
Pete Stewart is Glasgow director of Inverarity One to One, 185a Bath Street, Glasgow www.inverarity121.com
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