Food and Wine Matching - more on Combinations #6  Add/Read Comments

The more thought I have given to the latest wine/food matching challenge – a wine to accompany an early autumnal dish of roast pigeon with a grape and walnut sauce – the more I think that a Pinot Gris would be a great match, as an alternative to the oaked Chardonnay I did select.

Generally the weight and slight sweetness evident in Alsace Pinot Gris’ are incredibly food friendly. Their full bodied nature is something I adore. A Pinot Blanc would also have been suitable.

Eating Leeds led the way in experimenting by trying a red wine (Balgownie Pinot Noir 2004, Yarra Valley, Australia); this would have been my initial choice if I hadn’t read the post prior to selecting my wine. The thought process is obvious – game = red wine. Even the few references I read suggested treating Pigeon as Pheasant. Now my little birds came from a quality Butcher (Gabriel Machin in Henley) and have had some ‘hang-time’. Even so the flavour was distinctly lighter than pheasant. The sauce is an important factor in selecting a good match hence something ‘sweeter’ or at least with a little weight and high alcohol that can give the sensation of sweetness.

Benito, not being fortunate enough for supplies of pigeon to reach Memphis used a chicken and selected a rosé - Château Marouïne Côtes de Provence Rosé, 2005, Provence, France - an interesting choice but being dry not my first choice. Benito concludes it as being a little too light for the dish; but a good wine all the same.