Saturday Kitchen 19.6.10

(by peter)

This week, as southern Britain basked in balmy sunshine, the Saturday Kitchen wine team went to the seaside.

And I, for some inexplicable reason, decided to wear a raincoat while more sensible souls lolled on the beach semi-naked.

You can check out the faintly absurd results on BBC iplayer for the next week or so. (The wine bits are at 16:20 and 56:37 minutes.)

Dodgy clothing choices aside, I’m glad to report the wines went down exceptionally well.

For Silvena Rowe’s langoustines with orange-saffron butter and swede tahini mash, I chose the sensational Secano Estate Sauvignon Gris 2009 (£7.49, Marks & Spencer). I chair the Chile panel at the Decanter World Wine Awards and this is a wine that regularly emerges as one of the Chilean wines of the show. It’s an absolute steal at this price.
The guys in the studio were blown away, too. Silvena admitted that, while she’s not the biggest drinker, it was “spot on”. James described it as “spectacular” and “a bargain at £7.49”. Mark said it worked fantastically well with the flavours of the dish.

Mark Jordan’s dish of pan-roasted fillet of beef with lobster ravioli was something of a challenge, but the Tesco Finest Barbera d’Asti 2007 (£6.99, Tesco) is nothing if not versatile.

Mark enjoyed it, terming the wine “a perfect match”. James said it was “absolutely fabulous for the price”. Studio guest Cherie Lunghi was more cryptic in a vaguely Cantona-esque way, saying “it’s still ringing round in there like bells in a belfry”. (I’ll take that as a thumbs up.)

For Cherie’s food heaven (mozarella-stuffed chicken with roasted tomatoes, aubergines and basil pesto), I suggested the excellent value Gran López Tinto (£4.79, Waitrose).

James summed up by saying that I’d chosen “cracking wines”, which were “bargains”.

Which more than makes up for the mac decision.