Recently the husband and I decided that life's too short to drink bad wine, and no longer were we prepared to slum it with three for a tenner deals. For some (who know who they are) life's too short to drink any wine, but that's not for me to discuss here... We would much rather have something of higher quality and less of it, a bit like our attitude to meat.
Anyway, as luck would have it, I was one of ten lucky people on Facebook, out of over two thousand commenting no less, who were chosen to be wine reviewers for Asda, specifically for their extra special Barbera as featured in a recent TV advert. The idea was to like the post, and add a comment stating why you would like to be an Asda wine taster. Not thinking in the slightest that I'd be successful, but at the same time that you had to be in it to win it, I posted the following comment:
"Hubby and I would love to be tasters please. We are loyal Asda shoppers and regular red wine drinkers. I also write a food blog and I'm planning a post on matching wines with food. :-)"
A bit of creeping, I said "please" and insinuated I'd be sharing it, and sort of promised them some publicity, so I hoped I might get picked. I had forgotten all about it until about a week later when a message arrived from Asda asking for my address and phone number so they could deliver me six bottles, and it arrived a few days later. Three different reds and three different whites - and all that was asked of me was to comment on them on social media including the hashtag #asdawine.
The first one we tried was a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon Valle de Colchagua 2011. We don't usually go for a Cabernet as they tend to have a lot of tannin and are better with food than on their own, but this was very smooth. We had it to accompany roast gammon with clementines and ginger, plus the remains of the bottle the next day with a vegetable pizza.
The next one we had was Spanish. Old vine garnacha 2012, another red. We paired it with a Spanish dish of poached chicken breast and cavolo nero (black kale) on a bed of butter beans and chorizo with some of the poaching liquid, and sprinkled with smoked paprika. It also went well with a pistachio praline in dark chocolate that I had afterwards by way of a mini pudding.
The third bottle was a white - Chilean again - Sauvignon Blanc Romeral Vineyard 2012. Hubby said it was the tastiest white wine he had ever had. It was very floral and recommended with Thai food. A friend had given us some home made Thai curry paste she had made and I was looking forward to trying it out so after discussion we went for a prawn curry. I found the recipe on the BBC Good Food website and tweaked it a bit. Basically you soften onion and grated root ginger in some oil, then add the curry paste followed by a sachet of creamed coconut and a tin of chopped tomatoes. I added some chopped fresh tomatoes too as they needed using up and it worked very well, making the dish extra fresh tasting. Then the prawns went in, I happened to have cooked ones so I just heated them through in the sauce, though the recipe stated raw ones and cook for longer. Served with fragrant rice and a sprinkling of coriander leaves, it was hugely successful, mainly due to the fabulousness of the curry paste, better than any jar! It was deemed to be the best curry I have ever made. The wine matched it perfectly, standing up well to the chilli heat.
My wine and food pairings were partly guided by Asda Master of Wine Philippa Carr's recommendations on the back of the bottle, and partly due to general wine knowledge gained from my Dad over the years, and from reading "Jancis Robinson's Wine Course" ages ago. I'm no expert, but I've been to a couple of tastings run by a local company, and like to think I know a bit about wine. Sometimes it's not about whether to have red or white or rose with a dish, but about how full bodied the wine is and how strongly flavoured the food is. I'm looking forward to tasting the other three bottles, including the Barbera, and they'll be discussed in part 2 of this blog post.
In case you're wondering, all the wines retailed at £5 a bottle, though I noticed in store that that was the rollback price and the full price of the Garnacha was £8-something.
A few days later I won another prize on Facebook - a Lurpak tea towel! One of twenty lucky winners picked out of about 750 commenting on a post about favourite soups. I wonder what the third thing will be? Remember - you've got to be in it to win it!
Thanks for reading, lots more planned, and I won't leave it so long next time.
Caroline x
#asdawine
