Bordeaux Wines dinner with The London Foodie

In our ever-experimental age, food and wine pairings are becoming increasingly daring. Gone are the days of sticking rigidly to lazy, hackneyed alliances, like white wine and fish, or Port and blue cheese. The doors of opportunity have been flung open and all sorts of strange combinations are popping up – London foodies and winos have been howling with delight for hotdogs and grower Champagne at James Knappett and Sandia Chang's charmingly irreverent Bubbledogs. 

To illustrate that Bordeaux needn't be relegated to meat-heavy main courses, the ever dapper London Foodie Luiz Hara invited a ravenous bunch of food and wine hacks into his cosy East London home for a five-course Japanese feast, enlisting the help of glamourous wine glugger Christina Pickard to pair each of the dishes with a different Bordeaux wine, from white, to rosé, to red, to sweet. I've been lucky enough to eat at many of London's most hotly-anticipated new openings in the past few years and can honestly say that Luiz' food could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best of them.

Thoughtfully presented and elegantly scented, his dishes were meticulously executed and full of flavour. Among the highlights was the opening plate of salmon sashimi served with an American twist in the form of wasabi infused soured cream, though the dish that will linger longingly in the mind is the Woody Allen-esque Deconstructing Sushi, formed of grilled scallops, Tobiko eggs, spicy sauce and sushi rice – a composition of such richness, creaminess and alluring beauty, I was tempted to steal my neighbour's shell and suck out the goodness.

As for the wines, while the Réserve de Sours Sparking Rosé NV proved a curiously delightful pairing for the popcorn flavoured with Japanese Seven Spices doing the rounds in Luiz' living room before we ventured down to the kitchen, the standout wine was the creamy, unctuous and beautifully textured Château Roquefort Blanc Roquefortissime 2008 – sounds like a cheese, tasted sensational, and a steal at just £12.99 from Waitrose – I'm debating buying the entire allocation at my local Chiswick branch and I'm not even a Sauvignon girl. The toasty, spicy, apricot-laced Ginestet Sauternes 2009 also pleased the crowd, especially when enjoyed with decadent dark chocolate cake.

Huddled around a table of die hard gastronauts, conversation inevitably turned to food, and soon after, a competition to see who could come up with the wittiest food-related film puns. Many a suggestion was thrown into the ring, from There's Something About Dairy to Silence of the Clams. In my finest hour, I offered Beef Encounter and The Prawn Supremacy. Leaving Luiz' replete and happy, the memory of the Roquefortissime endured. Bordeaux whites are largely under the radar, though there are many gems to be unearthed displaying the holy trinity of Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and judiciously judged oak.

Domaines Ott

In my second of two tasting videos from a recent trip to Provence, The Wine Bird, Helena Nicklin, and I taste Domaines Ott Clos Mireille Blanc de Blancs 2011 with Ott's export manager Christophe Renard on the beach near to the estate in Côtes de Provence. Renard talks through the history of the iconic Ott bottle, while Nicklin recommends some food matches for the wine. The Mistral wind cheekily tried to steal the show, so please bear with us...

Seely seeking second Burgundy property

Christian Seely, managing director of AXA Millésimes – owners of Château Pichon Baron and Domaine de l’Arlot – has revealed he is on the hunt for a second Burgundy property. “I’m acutely looking to add a second Burgundy estate to our portfolio, but it’s very difficult,” he told the drinks business at the Pichon Baron 2011 primeurs tasting last week. Seely also admitted that he is looking to buy in the New World, but wouldn’t elaborate on where.

With regards to the 2011 vintage, he said the majority of people who tasted at Pichon Baron were “pleasantly surprised” by the quality of the vintage. “There hasn’t been the euphoria of 2009 and 2010, but people seem pleasantly surprised by the quality of Pichon 2011, perhaps because expectations weren’t very high. Not all 2011s are good, but those who picked well made lovely wines,” he said.

Seely also revealed that he is using increasing amounts of Semillon in his dry white, S de Suduiraut, from Sauternes estate Château Suduiraut. “My big aim is to make a dry white from the Sauternes region that tastes like Sauternes. We predominantly use Semillon in our sweet Sauternes, so it makes sense to use it in “S” too. We’ve made a few experimental bottles of 100% Semillon and it’s utterly delicious, so I know I’m on the right track,” he said.

“The fear is that with a majority of Semillon in the blend it won’t age well, but I know that it will. Unfortunately, it will be hard to increase production to supply demand as the only way to make it well is to use grapes destined for Suduiraut,” he added. Comparing the 2011 Sauternes vintage to the acclaimed 2001, Seely described the wines as “very rich, with high levels of residual sugar and botrytis, but super fresh, with lovely complexity and depth.”

Over at Château Pontet-Canet, owner Alfred Tesseron said that being biodynamic didn’t necessarily make it harder for him during the capricious 2011 growing season. “It’s all about your approach – being biodynamic, you have to always be one step ahead and work on a prevention rather than cure basis. 2011 was a difficult vintage, but every year presents different challenges. The weather was very up and down, so we had no room for manoeuvre,” he admitted.

Tesseron revealed his main reason for going biodynamic was for the positive affect it has on the taste of Pontet-Canet. He is currently exploring the effect of egg-shaped fermenters on the maturation process. “A lot of Bordeaux wines are over-oaked and I’m looking to find the right balance. I chose the fermenters for their breathability rather than their egg shape, but it’s too early to say whether I’m pleased with the results,” he said.

Sadoya wine dinner at Saki Farringdon

Japanese wine is having something of a moment. Last week a series of events were held in London to showcase Japan's winemaking prowess to the city's wine elite, including a lunch attended by a who's who of the wine world: Michael Broadbent, Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson to name but three.

The focus was on Japan's flagship white grape, Koshu. Helping to build a buzz around Japan's great white hope, Jancis Robinson MW was enlisted to host a Koshu seminar at the Koshu of Japan trade tasting, in which she described the grape, which is being marketed as an alternative to saké for matching with Japanese food, as 'quietly gallant'. Made in the Yamanashi Prefecture, the Japanese government has put its support behind a campaign to promote Koshu in the UK and other European export markets, targeting Japanese restaurants.

My encounter with Koshu came at Saki restaurant in Farringdon, at a dinner hosted by Hirohisa Imai, owner of Sadoya, one of Japan's leading producers. Light bodied and almost transparent, the tank sample of 2010 Sadoya Zenkouji Kitahara Koshu had delicate, yuzu citrus flavours, along with hints of lychee and lime blossom. Jancis accurately describes its purity as 'zen-like'.

Sat beside Imai at the dinner was long-term friend and former owner of Château Cos d'Estournel Bruno Prats. I wondered whether Prats harboured dreams of a Japanese wine project, to add to his Portuguese, Chilean, South African and Spanish ventures, but he assured me he has no plans to invest in Japan, and that his final wine project, an old vine Monastrell from Alicante called 'Alfinal', or 'the end' in Spanish, will launch at Vinexpo in Bordeaux this June.

Leaving Prats and Imai to get back to their Koshu, I took my place at a black cubed table with a white, gravel-filled centre sprouting four phallic candles, like erotic stalagmites – the most curious centrepiece I've ever encountered in a restaurant. Not only the only blonde, but the only Brit, I felt like I'd stepped inside a scene from Sophia Coppola's Lost in Translation.

The seven course dinner paired a different Sadoya wine with each dish. Founded in 1917, Sadoya was appointed purveyor to the Japanese Imperial Household in 1940 – a title it retains to this day. The feast commenced with a trio of nibbles inspired by Japanese New Year celebrations: tiny fish representing fertility, a golden egg yolk set atop an egg white in a coconut ice-like cube for prosperity, and a white radish and red(ish) carrot – Japan's lucky colours.

The accompanying Sadoya Cabernet Sauvignon sparkling rosé was an attractive onion skin pink, and had persistent petillance and a feminine nose of summer fruits. A simple sashimi selection followed, which matched incredibly well with the crisp, citrusy Koshu. We then moved on to scallop, king prawn and Lotus root kakiage (tempura) that looked like a tumor but tasted divine. Crunchy and moorish, it's the Japanese equivalent of beer battered cod. The matching 2004 dry Semillon was decidedly dull, and almost ghostly in its lack of character.

Sat to my left was a Japanese lady who had emigrated to England 30 years prior and now worked at the Japanese Embassy in London. After kindly inviting me to a forthcoming saké tasting, she told me of her predilection for English comedy and costume drama, name checking Only Fools and Horses and Downton Abbey as her particular favourites. Curiouser and curiouser. A fascinating dish followed: braised pork belly in a potato sauce, served in a yellow flower-shaped bowl and garnished with two bright green beans. Soft, comforting and tremendously tender, it was the best pork I've ever tasted.

We were then presented with a duo of exciting wines: Sadoya Château Brillant Cabernet Sauvignon 1992 and Château Brillant Cabernet/Merlot 1962. The '92 was remarkably youthful for its 19 years, and still incredibly fruit forward, with a nose of black cherries, and red currants. The palate was smooth and rounded, showing traces of aged Bordeaux. The '62 also seemed young for its years, and reassuringly full of life. Savoury and serious, it had aromas of pencil shavings, cedar wood, cigar box and tobacco smoke, with a spicy, sour cherry finish.

The '62 was matched with black cod with truffle miso - a sublime dish that had me reaching for superlatives, so rapturous was its divine, hedonistic flavour. Intense, intoxicating, indulgent, I almost genuflected in front of the plate in reverence to it. The final wine of the night was a curio: Sadoya Zenkouji Kitahara Sweet Semillon 2008, paired with green tea tiramisu, that sang of apricot and orange peel. In the UK's highly competitive wine retail arena, the 'quietly gallant' Koshu is not going to be an easy sell, but it's exciting to see the white grape has entered the world wine arena. And with Sadoya producing some stunning reds, Japan's wine future looks to be in the pink.