Wine meets its match
It's a shame that more restaurants don't do food and wine matching. It's a lot of fun for the customer, and it's a good way of shifting difficult wines.
Take Corney & Barrow Wine Bars. It has launched a "gourmet" menu this month at its flagship wine bar in St Martin's Lane, London. Customers now have a choice of two wines for each of the four (no-choice) courses, at £47 a pop. It will run until the customers tire of it - which they probably won't, as they asked for it in the first place. "A lot of our customers ask us to choose wines for them," says operations director Catherine Felgate. "We recommend a wine for every main course dish. Then our customers started asking, ‘What about a whole meal?'."
How else could you persuade a diner that the best match for a terrine of smoked chicken, pheasant and pistachio, with quince jelly, is a fino? Corney & Barrow chose the Jarana from Lustau, which brought out the pistachio nicely and matched the dish perfectly, in terms of weight and flavour. The other option was an Alsace Pinot Noir 1998, from Cleeborg, which had too much strawberry and not enough structure.
The chef is Stephen Hurley, fresh from Australia and the Hotel Nikko in Darling Harbour, where he was offering Pacific fusion dining. His time spent cooking in the UK includes stints at London's Fulham Road, under Richard Corrigan, and at the Atlantic Bar and Grill, also in London, under Richard Sawyer.
His Australian influences show clearly. A pared sliver of turmeric root accompanies the Proscuitto-wrapped rump of lamb, and there's turmeric oil in the three-bean tagine that accompanies it. The wine match is a disappointing Côtes de Blaye from Château Les Richards 1996, and a hearty Tuscan red, from Morellino de Scansano, that fit the bill.
The Meursault, 1997 Clos du Cromin, Oliver Leflaive, was a real treat with the scallops. Five fat, skewered Cornish scallops sit on a heap of chive beurre blanc-dressed tagliollini, with an expertly stuffed courgette flower. The New Zealand Chardonnay (from Cairnbrae, Marlborough) was an interesting second choice, if too green for the sauce.
The Cartagene got the thumbs-up with the hazelnut and white chocolate parfait, with Kahlúa anglaise. The pruney fruit had just enough honey and grapefruit acidity to cut through the cream, though the option of Vin Santo (from Vignamaggio, 1996) wasn't quite up to the job, nor was it in the best condition ("we'd better take another look at that one," said Felgate, later).
Hurley is planning to change the menu monthly, and to keep on tasting wine. "I do a lot of that," he says. "It keeps me happy."
by Fiona Sims
