Making a match between food and wine – #toastthesummer with ASDA

Matching wine with meals

I know a bit about wine (courtesy of a previous evening spent with Philippa Carr, ASDA’s Master of Wine, and also a class with the Essex Wine School) but still, I’m not particularly clued up when it comes to matching wine with food. At least I wasn’t, anyway…and I also didn’t know you could get mahoosive bottles of champagne – but it turns out you can…more on that in a bit!

According to the weather experts, the forecast is moving more towards sun and that means outdoor eating – barbecues, picnics, impromptu al fresco get-togethers – and alongside those, a change in the kind of wine, beer, gin (or perhaps even the aforementioned bubbly) that we might be drinking. PLEASE LET THERE BE SUN! (Otherwise, it’s pretty much a given that wellput our stoic British hats on and sit under a gazebo and pretend the sun is out anyway…)

Whether the sun makes an appearance or not, ASDA have come up with a whole menu of ideas for just about every kind of summer gathering – however you plan to #toastthesummer – and I recently went along to their full-of-alcoholic-options indoor ‘perfect picnic pairings’ party to find out more about exactly what goes with what. ASDA’s Ed Betts (chief wine buying manager) and Natalie (wine brand manager) were waiting and ready to tease our taste buds with a surprising selection of stuff:

Friends and family picnic

Pork pies and Mainbrace IPA India Pale Ale – personally I love pork pies, and although I’m not really much of a beer drinker the Other Half certainly doesn’t say no to a nice bottle or two.

Sausage rolls and Rioja – I like black pudding, as long as I don’t think too much about what it actually is, and it gives an interesting twist to these Taste the Difference sausage rolls which have a distinctive flavour and a flaky, soft texture that mixes really well with the earthy tones of the Rioja. Great for sitting on a rug, listening to a bit of live music.

Evening AlFresco

Smoked salmon and My Classic Gin – I was immediately won over by the gin, which was served in miniature milk bottles with stripy straws. Adds a bit of that tipsy evening in the sunshine feeling before you even get to the alcohol inside it! Served with a bit of nicely julienned cucumber, the gin was perfect – mixed with a dash of tonic and accompanied by a good helping of Extra Special smoked salmon (additional cucumber strips optional).

Sriracha (sweet chilli humous) and rustic bread, with Extra Special Yarra Valley Pinot Noir – the winner of the evening for me. With a Kiwi Other Half, a nice Pinot features a lot when it comes to wine…but this was particularly exceptional, with a really light refreshing taste that complimented the kick from the sweet chilli humous. I’d go so far as to say that I might be defecting to Australian wines for a while as it really did hit the spot for me.

Roquefort and Calafia Moscatel – smelly blue cheese is great on its own in my opinion, but if there is a wine to go with it that’s even better. I’m quite picky about dessert wines and this one was a bit sweet for me on its own…but offset with the strong taste and thick creamy consistency of the Roquefort it worked ridiculously well.

Summer celebration

‘Smash Cake’ and champagne – more specifically, an enormous bottle of Nicholas Feuillatte Champagne. Apparently it’s called a Jeroboam, and it’ll be available in selected stores from June (price still to be confirmed). Be warned, you need someone strong to pour – I picked up an empty bottle and almost fell over with the weight of it! But it’s certainly the perfect showstopper for any summer celebration, and it’ll fill a fair number of champagne flutes too as you get three whole litres from it. (Unless you go a bit mad F1 stylee and shake it up and spray it everywhere…which was incredibly tempting…).

The other essential ingredient for any perfect party is cake – and the ‘Smash Cake’ is very special…the pictures tell the story pretty well themselves: