CHICKEN is one of the easiest foods to match to wine, as almost anything goes.
I'd normally recommend choosing your favourite wine, which, for me at least, means white Burgundy.
Grab a bottle of the Waitrose White Burgundy 2014 (Waitrose, £8.99) and you won't go wrong. This is an exceptional wine for a surprising price-tag ... you'd normally pay £12 for the same quality from elsewhere.
Happily, Geoff has thrown us a curve ball by adding fennel into the casserole. Now, fennel doesn't clash with all wines, although it should make you pause when choosing the ideal bottle.
The best wine to cope with the characteristics of fennel is Sauvignon Blanc. You could go very classical with a minerally Sancerre, or forge a new path with a good Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, which will tend to have more up-front fruit.
The middle ground would include South Africa or a forward-thinking producer from the South of France.
Here are two Sauvignons from M&S to try this weekend ...
Seifried Estate Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2013 (M&S, £10). This is a brilliant New Zealand Sauvignon with a good fruit concentration, but it also displays a lovely minerality and balance.
Cape Peninsula Sauvignon Blanc 2014 (M&S, £10). The winemaker here has added a small portion (3%) of Semillon to the mix, which makes for a slightly creamier style of wine that matches a wider variety of food. It's very tasty and very good value.
If you don't want to spend a tenner, get yourself down to Majestic and grab a bottle of their Cuvée de Richard Blanc Comte Tolosan 2014 (Majestic, £5.99). This is an easy-drinking blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Ugni Blanc and Colombard from the South of France. It's food-friendly, and it won't break the bank.
Pete Stewart is Glasgow director of Inverarity One to One, 185a Bath Street, Glasgow www.inverarity121.com
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