The subtle art of matchmaking

Its value may be open to debate, but as Fiona Sims points out, the matching of food and wine can prove to be a real winner

FIONA SIMS

One subject that gets many in the industry going is the contentious subject of food and wine matching. Some feel that it's a lot of hype: you should just drink what you want, when you want. Others moan because it's too subjective: goat's cheese and Sauvignon Blanc might get me going but it might not do anything for someone else.

But an increasing number (me included) will tell you that the perfect marriage is worth dying for - I still dream about a dish I had a few years back of shaved white truffle and handmade papperdelle with Dom Perignon 1959.

And then there's the profit potential. Those I've spoken to over the years who continue to offer a specific wine with each of their dishes, whether on the menu itself or verbally, report healthy sales - it's a great way to shift bin-ends, and a way to move customers around the list, encouraging them to trade up and try wines that they might not normally go for. And here's the best bit - with a bit of know-how, and armed with a wine list that suits your food, anyone can do it - even pubs.

Check out the competition

So why not enter the Big French Wines Match. The competition, organised by Sopexa, is now in its fourth year and taps into this increasing trend, challenging those in the trade to test their skills - and, of course, focus attention on the whopping 30% market share the French still have on wine lists. Says competition coordinator Julie Ballentine: 'It's a way of promoting the diversity and quality that France can offer - there's something for everyone, and every dish.' I won't argue with that.

After an initial tasting, which included dozens of different wines, submitted by many different suppliers - who are given the same menu that the competitors have - the finalists (from posh Oxfordshire hotels to Norfolk boozers and high-street wine bars) began to work out which wine goes best with what dish, working in teams of two.

The food came courtesy of Richard Corrigan at London's Lindsay House: smoked sturgeon with blinis, caviar and crame fraiche; roast mallard, pineapple relish with thyme and black pepper potatoes; bramley apple and medjool date crumble with cinnamon custard.

I was a judge on the pub/wine bar bit. I could overhear the restaurant and hotel competitors being judged on the next table and waxing lyrical about a particular wine's affinity with certain ingredients in the dishes. Oh dear, I thought, pubs won't be able to compete with the likes of Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons and Northcote Manor. Wrong.

'The pineapple was a kick in the nuts, sure,' admits chef Andy Parle of the Walpole Inn, Itteringham, Norfolk. 'Most of the reds with firmer tannins threw off the dish completely, making the wines taste too metallic, but then we found the Rully. The pork belly in the dish added a creaminess to the duck which worked well with the velvety fruit, tying up the match,' he explains to the panel of judges. It gets better. 'We were looking for something dark and rich to go with the crumble - it's the date that we wanted to pull out,' continues Parle, justifying his choice. 'We went for the Banyuls in the end because it had a nice seasonality about it too.' They later won.

Accounting for taste

The Chapel pub, near Paddington, was up next. The chef and owner (both called Sebastien) ended up with a Grand Cru Alsace Riesling as their best option with the starter. 'The dish reminded me of the flammekuche you get in Alsace, with its smoky flavours and creamy textures and Riesling is so good with that,' reasoned owner Sebastien Leach. 'But it was the dill, and the unadvertised onion, that were the lead flavours and we needed something to balance that acidity.'

The Sands Bar and Grill in Brighton was just as impressive - though the chef had rather sneakily brought along a mate who was studying winemaking at Brighton University to help out on the wine matching front. Even the Ealing-based Kiwi Kitchen came up trumps - and they didn't know anything about wine.

Kiwi head chef Matthew and his Aussie sous chef Megan singled out the key flavours in each dish and set out to find the right wines. They might not have been familiar with each appellation's grape varieties, or their styles, but they went for it anyway and came up with some decent pairings, which goes to show, you don't need to be a master sommelier to do food and wine matching.