Food and wine matching - part 2.

This post has been delayed a bit, as I gave up drinking alcohol for the month of January, partly to make sure I could, partly for weight loss and partly to give my liver a break after the excesses of the festive season.  I missed wine, and Bailey's, but didn't find it too hard.  I mostly switched to fizzy water with a slice of lemon, but sometimes had sparkling grape juice or fruit presse out of a wine glass to make it feel a  bit more special.

I had tried two out of the three remaining free Asda wines before the self-imposed drinking ban started, and the first of these was the Pinot Grigio Trentino 2012. I'm not usually a fan of Pinot Grigio and this didn't do anything to convert me. It was nice and fresh and went well with my Italian inspired taleggio cheese omelette with prosciutto crudo and fennel seed salami (plus peas) but I don't think I'll be rushing out to buy more.  It was just a bit, well, watery and boring.

It was to Italy again for wine number five out of the six, and a red, the Barbera 2011.  This won silver at the International wine and Spirit Challenge 2013, and deservedly so. We paired it with Italian fennel and garlic sausages, roasted vegetables and cabbage.  It was very smooth and robust, and a definite thumbs up.

The final wine was a mouthful in more ways than one.  French this time: Viognier Pays d'Oc Indication Geographique Protegee 2012.  A gorgeous, dry, high quality white wine from the Languedoc, the label said it would be good matched with fish dishes, mild curries and chicken.  We had it with a roast tandoori-style chicken and naan bread, accompanied with cucmber and kalonji pickle salad (see below) which is very thinly sliced cucumber, shallots and kalonji (also called black onion seeds or nigella seeds) with lemon juice, mint and pomegranate seeds. The wine was as fresh and delicately flavoured as the salad, but unlike the Pinot Grigio it had character and flavour.

 

Thank you to Asda for the six free wines, Valentine's day will bring the last of my husband's birthday case which he has kindly been saving to share with me :-)

 

I'm not giving up wine again anytime soon, but definitely believe in quality rather than quantity from now on.

 

Thank you for reading, more soon.

Caroline x

 

#asdawine