What to drink with...

When it comes to being a wine merchant our FAQs are invariably about matching wine with food so Peter’s food matching evenings at Caviste Overton have proved to be a fantastic hit with our customers.  Whilst Peter suggests the best pairings, he encourages guests to try all of the different combinations to see which ones work best.  This month’s theme was cheese, matching cheeses by themselves as well as in cooked dishes with seven different wines. The hits of the evening were Terres de Velle Bougogne Rouge with Baked Camembert, Gran Cardiel Verdejo/Viura with Feta salad made with cranberries, lambs lettuce and red onion, Buglioni Recioto with Stilton with top marks going to the fantastic new Gavroche Sauvignon Blanc, made by our top Loire wine maker Ludovic Chanson, paired with a soft Ewe’s cheese.  Our thanks to Tina Devereux for providing the wonderful  food that went so well with the wines.  Peter’s next food matching evening will be on the 5^th of April when he will be matching wines with a range of desserts.

Welcome to our new series of blog posts: 'What to drink with...'

Earlier today I passed our local farm shop and outside was a huge trailer over-flowing with pumpkins. It started my mind whirring about how to cook pumpkins - and what to drink with them (I know, I should concentrate on my driving more...)

I musty confess to never having been a huge pumpkin fan - when the kids were younger the scooped out flesh from the Halloween pumpkin lanterns went straight in the compost. What a waste I hear you cry. So, in an effort to waste nothing and inspired by those bright orange, glorious looking globes of Autumnal loveliness I went off in search of some tasty ways to use up all that foodie goodness.

Having just bought food blogger Niamh Shields new book (well done Niamh on the book deal!  Oh and if you are bit of a foodie like me Niamh's blog Eat like a girl is a must too) I felt sure she would have some new takes on Pumpkin recipes. And sure enough a quick wizz through her blog just now brought me to this delicious-looking recipe for pumpkin mash. I love looking through cookery books/magazines/blogs to get inspiration and to put my twist on recipes - but this looks so perfectly suited as an Autumn comfort-food that I'll be making it 'as is' very soon. I'll let you know how it goes!

Now inspired by Niamh and her blog, what wine to drink?

Well, I think the mash recipe above needs something to work with all that starch and and add a bit of zip, and perhaps a little twist of citrus/wild herbs to add 'bite'. One of our recently arrived new Italian wines, Selva Capuzza Lugana 2010 would be my choice. Zingy and fresh with a under-lying minerality giving back-bone and a taut structure.

Lugana is in the Veneto wine region of north east Italy. 4km south of Lake Garda, in the green rolling Moreniche hills can be found the beautiful wine property Selva Capuzza. Lugana is both a region and the local name for the Trebianno grape variety.

Produced from Selva Capuzza's oldest and highest vineyards it is one of the first single vineyard Lugana ever produced and is the estate's signature Lugana. The combination of low yields and the selection of grapes produce a white wine of finesse and complexity.

There we have it. A new way to make use of one of Autumn's classic vegetables and a new wine to try alongside it. Food and wine matching advice and a tasty Autumn supper to boot. More soon...