Food Companion

Food and Wine 
As you discover which wines you like most you will be able to
make your own decisions about which wines go best with
different types of food.

Before the meal as an 'aperitif' 
An aperitif should cleanse the palate and sharpen the taste
buds. Champagne, cool dry white wines and chilled rose
wines all make excellent aperitifs.

Appetizers
Appetizers often include a wide range of strong flavours.
Serve chilled, light, dry white wines such as Sauvignon Blanc
or Blanc de Blanc. Dry rose wines such as Anjou Rose are
also suitable.
Smoked salmon
A Chablis or Chardonnay is best. A fruity medium dry
Reisling or Gewurztraminer from Germany also goes well.
Caviar
Iced vodka is the traditional drink with caviar, but
Champagne is as good if not better.
Avocado with prawns or crab
Try dry to medium white wines such as Graves or
Chardonnay.
Fresh oysters
Dry wines from the Loire such as Muscadet or
Sancerre, Champagne or a full bodied Chablis.

Soup 
If the soup course follows the hors d'oeuvres
it is quite normal to continue with the same wine.
Lobster bisque or clam chowder
Dry white wines with plenty of body such as a Pinot
Gris or Chardonnay.
Vegetable cream soups
Young Reisling or dry Graves.
Minestrone
Light red wines such as a Zinfandel or Beaujolais.

Fish
Most people prefer white wine with fish. The general
rule is the lighter the sauce the fish is served in, the
lighter the wine to accompany it.
Shrimps
A Chablis or Chardonnay goes well, even if the shrimps
are in a sauce.
Sushi and Sashimi
Try Reisling, a bottle of Champagne or a Chablis.
Salmon
White Burgundy such as a Puligny Montrachet or
Meursalt.
Tuna
A rose wine or a Cotes du Rhone red is best with
grilled tuna.

Chicken and Turkey  
Although white wine is often served with chicken,
light reds also go very well with turkey and chicken
dishes with stronger sauces.
Roast turkey
A chilled bottle of Beaujolais or a light red Burgundy.
Coq au vin (chicken in red wine)
Gevrey Chambertin is best, for a special occasion,
otherwise any medium or light red wine is fine.

Meats
There is a wine for every possible meat dish.
A slightly chilled Beaujolais is excellent with light
roast beef. Roast beef requires a heavier red.
Veal steak
A light red such as a Beaujolais is perfect, served
slightly chilled.
Beef and lamb
Light reds from Bordeaux at room temperature go well
if the meats are roasted.
Sirloin steak
Red wines of nearly any kind go well with steaks,
especially the reds from Burgundy.
Roast lamb
A red from the Bordeaux region.
Roast beef
The full flavour of roast beef requires an equally full
flavoured wine, try a Volnay or Chateauneuf du Pape.
Lamb cutlets
Light reds from Bordeaux are ideal, for example a Merlot
or Cabernet Sauvignon.

France Wines Areas

France 
French wine sets the international standard simply
because French is, and has always been, the
consistent best.
French offers an incredibly varied selection of wines
from which to choose. It is as every village in every
part of France has a different wine waiting to be
discovered; no two quite the same, or ever standardized
or explained away.

Bordeaux
Three factors make Bordeaux the most important
region of all: its quality, size, and the variety of wines
its produces.

The region of Bordeaux is divided into several smaller
areas such as Graves, Margaux, and Saint Emilion,
each producing wines with a style of their own and
many of them among the world's finest: Chateau

Margaux, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau
Haut Brion, Chateau Latour and Chateau Lafite-
Rothschild.

Vintage wines from these chateaux are found at
the top end of the wine price list and old wines
can command huge prices at auction.
Whatever your budget, the Bordeaux name
indicates a fine, reasonably priced drinking wine
that's perfect with food. For Bordeaux wines
that don't break the bank, look for the name of
a reliable 'negociant', such as Barton & Guestier,
an agent who has blended several wines of the
region to create one good wine which is ready
to drink.

 

Burgundy 
The great name of Burgundy region include
Chablis, Beaujolais, Macon, Beaune and
perhaps twenty others.
Classification in Burgundy begins with 
Grand Cru, which means grapes from the best
vineyards will have been used to make the wine.
Premier Cru, produced from the second best
vineyards sites come next, followed by wines from
individual villages.
Wines named after regions within Burgundy and
non-specific wines such as Burgundy Red complete
the choice.


Burgundy also has a system of 'negociants', agents
whose name appears on the label together with
the name of the area in which the grapes were grown.
This system dates from the French Revolution when
large estates were sliced into small sections and given
to the local people.
The negociants buys freshly picked grapes or ready
made wine from individual farmers and completes
the wine making process and sells the wine.
Perhaps the best known region of Burgundy is
Beaujolais which provides light, fruity red wine
made to be drunk young.

Rhone
A region to the south of Burgundy, is famous
for its red wine and probably the most famous
is Chateauneuf-du-Pape which is blended from
thirteen different gape varieties.
The red wine from Rhone can be quite delicious,
deep, fruity and low in acid.
Good years keep well.

Loire
South-west of Paris, on the banks of the river
Loire is a region known for its light, white wines.
These divide between the dry wines to the east
(Sancerre and Pouilly) and west (Muscadet),
and the sweeter wines of Touraine and Anjou
in central Loire.
The area of Touraine also has red wine which is
a match for Beaujolais, while much of the wine
of Anjou is first class rose.