While the long lunch may have disappeared from our weekday lives (well, mine at least), there’s nothing like a lingering Sunday get-together with family and friends to round off the weekend.
Wine lovers will no doubt see it as an opportunity to pull out a treasured bottle, but is that the best strategy? Should it be mellow and mature or bright, youthful and fruity? That depends rather less on the central ingredient of the meal than the way you cook it. Take pork, for instance. If you were cooking it Italian style with garlic and herbs you might want an Italian red such as a Chianti, but serve it with crackling and apple sauce, and you might be better off with a Riesling or a Chenin Blanc.
With beef it’s more about the cut and how rare it is. If you were cooking a beef Wellington nicely underdone, for example, I would be inclined to go for a medium-bodied red with some elegance such as a Pomerol, whereas you would want something more robust – a Zinfandel, say, or a gutsy Grenache or GSM blend – with sticky, slow-braised beef or ox cheek and mash.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
If you’re going to showcase a wine, it pays to keep the food simple. A great Bordeaux needs little more than a simple jus, a few garlicky green beans and maybe the indulgence of a gratin dauphinoise. Lamb is perhaps the most forgiving of meats – good news with Easter around the corner – but it will still take you in different directions depending on the way you cook it. Serve a herb-crusted rack of lamb in the spring and it’s a great opportunity to bring out a good red Burgundy. Slow cook a shoulder Middle Eastern style and you could opt instead for a northern
