Wine with Leslie: A top beer to enjoy with curry chips or a spice burger
Try Leslie's recommended beer below with a comfort-food spice burger or maybe a curry chips.
Well 2020 is finally over, 2021 can only be better. I have a few New Year’s Resolutions for you to consider this week and my suggestions round up some Christmas offers that should still be on the shelves.
The first resolution has to be dry sherry — still the best value wine to be found in your local wine shop. Over many years of teaching I have to accept that yeasty bone-dry Fino and Manzanilla is not for everyone. To some it smells of turpentine, but to me it smells of salty sea air mixed with herbs and lemon groves with baking bread aromas from the local bakery. I still haven’t made it to the seaside village of Sanlucar de Barrameda but I’m told all these scents are in the air most mornings as well as in the glass of Manzanilla you can sip on the beach.
Most sherry in our shops is from older companies but I recommend one from Callejuela which was founded in 1998 in Sanlucar by brothers, Pepe and Paco Blanco, who created the brand when they took over their Dad’s small bodega. They are third-generation growers and have a fresh take on this ancient style of wine as well as bottling some still wine aged under flor yeast. Callejuela has good distribution as you will see below and if you get to eat at Fish Shop on Benburb Street in Dublin or the excellent Beach House in Tramore (same owners) you should find it by the glass.
Two other newish kids on the block to watch for are Fernando de Castilla (Searsons) and Equipo Navazos (Celtic Whiskey Shop). The Celtic Whiskey Shop on Dublin’s Dawson Street often has a New Year sale to clear old lines and last year I picked up some half-price bottles of La Bota single barrel Fino Sherry and some Mosel Riesling.
Next resolution is that you begin a wine cellar. I’m sure during 2020's lockdowns you would love to have had a selection of wine in the cupboard under the stairs (a good spot as the temperature is constant). Some more suggestions: smell every glass of wine you drink to help improve your memory (we remember smell better than taste); drink a bottle of wine from a region you have never tried at least once a month — e.g. Lebanon, Georgia, Greece, Eastern Europe; and lastly if you are still losing the Covid lbs then drink a little less but drink better.
Gigondas and similar Southern Rhône villages such as Cairanne and of course Châteauneuf-du-Pape are perfect winter warmers at this time of year and also go well with turkey if you still have turkey legs to cook (as in my house) — I also like it with chicken curry. Big juicy rounded fruits with smoky blackberry and cassis, full on the palate and with decent complexity and depth.
Lidl brought in some extra Italian wines for Christmas including some from Piedmont. The €8.99 Antica Cascina 2019 Barbera is significantly lighter but still has some nice cherry fruits. For an extra euro the Superiore has noticeably richer sweeter cherries, some textured darker fruits on the palate and a riper finish. This has plenty of fruit to cope with the likes of Bucatini all’Amatriciana or Pepperoni Pizza.
Ripasso is made by re-fermenting Valpolicella on the lees and must of Amarone to allow the wine to pick up some of Amarone’s dried fruit character without pushing the alcohol above 14%. This has ripe blackberry and cherry aromas and has touches of leather and savoury darker fruits on the finish. I got a touch of wild yeast, brett, on this but didn’t actually mind for a change.
One of the promising newer sherry brands founded by two brothers in 1998. This has intense aromas of preserved lemon, dried herbs and fresh yeast — creamy and complex with crisp salty dried lemon freshness and layers and layers of flavour — the perfect match for fish and chips.
LAN Riojas haven’t appeared here in a while, I’ll have to remember to mention them more often. Grapes for this wine are sourced from the 'mantible ecolólogco' parcel in Lan’s famed Lanciano vineyard in Rioja Alta. Aromas of dark cherries and spice, rounded soft fruit flavours on the palate with structure and complexity — try with a goulash or some slow-cooked lamb.
You won’t find many bottles of 2010 Bordeaux around these days, and certainly not at this price. This is from the Northern Médoc and has all those classic aged Bordeaux blackcurrant leaf, pencil box and cedar aromas, supple and mature fruits on the palate with spice and blackcurrant notes — not one for keeping but right now it is just about perfect if you like aged claret.
Hope Brewing on Dublin’s Northside have two new seasonals out which should still be in stock in your local beer specialist. Their Ltd. Edition #21 Double IPA is almost 9% ABV with big tropical fruit flavours and a fairly high (bitterness) IBU rating of 54.
I slightly preferred this Red IPA enlivened with American and Aussie hops. Pouring an amber-brown colour with pine forest, burnt toffee and malty barley aromas, fruity and fresh on the palate with caramel and red fruit flavours and a refreshing and lingering bitter kick on the finish (55 IBU). Try with a comfort-food spice burger or maybe a curry chips.
