There used to be a rule book for matching food and wine, but I for one have long since thrown it out the window.
I'm a big believer in experimenting and enjoying your favourite wine with a variety of dishes.
Having said that, there are still some classic matches that are difficult to top. These include Sancerre and goat's cheese and a good pinot noir with morel mushrooms. The earthy, smoky flavours of the mushroom marry perfectly with the farmyard spiciness of the wine. Heaven.
I'm a huge pinot fan but bear in mind the stinkier examples are not for everyone, and tend to be quite pricey.
Majestic has some affordable, approachable pinots from Chile. The Leyda Single Vineyard pinot noir 2010 (Majestic, £9.99) is particularly good as well as being amazing value for a tenner. Leyda Valley is a cooler part of Chile, allowing the grapes to ripen at a more gentle pace. This is crucial for the temperamental pinot noir which insists on ideal conditions.
Going up a gear, we head to New Zealand's Central Otago region which is one of the finest areas outside of Burgundy for this noble grape. The Desert Heart Pinot noir 2007 (Waitrose, £24.49) is expensive but well worth a try. It's big and rich with dark, sultry fruit swathed in smoky oak.
And finally I have to mention one of my favourite wine regions, Burgundy, and one of the best wines I've tasted this year. Pommard Vieilles Vignes JJ Girard 2009 (Inverarity One to One, £27.99). This is a classically-styled pinot from a great year by a brilliant winemaker. It's incredibly elegant, with silky tannins, earthy depth and a finish that just won't quit. Lovely stuff.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article