Wine and food matching is like dating: you only know for certain if it was a success after the event. There are ways to minimise disappointment, though, such as cooking with the same wine you drink. Classic examples are French dry white such as chablis with mussels cooked in white wine; beef bourguignon cooked with red burgundy; consomme with amontillado sherry; Alsace coq au riesling cooked in a riesling from the region, a delicious variation on coq au vin made with red wine; and the many deglazed sauces, from red-wine reduction to simple meuniere, a sauce made with white wine, butter and parsley in the juices of pan-fried fish.
Score: 92
Introduced by a deep red-purple colour, this has a bouquet of bay leaf, walnut and dried spices, and good concentration of full-bodied flavour in the mouth. Fine, powdery tannins coat the tongue. It will age well. A solidly structured red to go with boeuf bourguignon. (Screw-cap; 14.5 per cent alcohol.)
Ageing? Drink now to 12 years.
Stockists include: Wine Haven, Killarney Heights (NSW); winestar.com.au (Vic)
Score: 95
The bouquet is classic Eden Valley: both dried and fresh flowers, topped by the youthful yeasty notes of a newly made white wine. The palate is ultra-fresh and vibrant, again intensely perfumed, floral and talcy. An utterly lovely young riesling that would suit Alsace coq au riesling. (Screw-cap; 12 per cent alcohol.)
Ageing? Drink now to 11 years.
Stockists include: Vintage Cellars, Double Bay & Dan Murphy's, Mosman (NSW); Dan Murphy's, Hawthorn East & Vintage Cellars, Brighton (Vic)
Score: 91
The bouquet is sweetly floral, herby and ripely appealing, with traces of straw and lemon. There's intense lemon sherbet on the tongue. A bright, zesty young semillon with plenty of energy and the ability to develop with age. It suits trout cooked a la meuniere, the pan deglazed with semillon. (Screw-cap; 10.5 per cent alcohol.)
Ageing? Drink now to nine years.
Stockists include: Red Bottle, Elizabeth Street, Sydney; davidhookwines.com.au
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