Wine With Roast Partridge - Combinations #6  Add/Read Comments

Following EatingLeeds experiments with matching the dish (Roast Partridge with Grapes and Walnuts from Sophie Grigson’s Country Kitchen) with a red wine that didn't quite work, a white was selected for the Combinations dinner at the cottage last night. A red would have been my first choice, seeing as it's game an' all, but partridge turns out to be a relatively light meat more suited to a white wine. The slight sweetness to the sauce (Madeira with grapes and walnuts) points towards a fuller, richer wine while the slight smokiness imparted by the bacon (organic smoked streaky) would be flattered with an edge of oak influence. While oaky New World Chardonnay's are not my first choice for drinking in this case the match was superb.

Wine Tasting Note:Calera Chardonnay, 2000, Central Coast, California.
Currently on offer at Waitrose down £3 to £7.99.
Indeed there is a oak influence to the wine evident on both the nose and the palate but it is tempered with a mass of rich, ripe tropical fruit. Creamy, rounded, a touch of nuttiness and of peaches. The wine has a little bottle age to its benefit too. Alcohol 14%.
Scribblings Rating - 88/100

[As the wine is not listed online I am assuming it is a parcel brought by Waitrose for their current promotion.]