Petit Chablis 2006 Jean de Chaudenay
Perennial problem isn’t it? Matching wine and food. Which wino has never deliberated over what to serve with foie gras (easy one – Chateau d’Yquem), or mature Argentinean Steak (I would do a Malbec)? But what about the really tough dishes like chocolate desserts, for example. What if your dinner party plan includes serving beans on toast?
These thoughts swirled around my head like a pair of boxer shorts in a launderette as I drove back to the flat for my evening repast, which happened to be, due to forgetting to stop at the shops, beans on toast.
Now there are only two brands of beans, Heinz, and rubbish. Own brands are a waste of time and HP are bolder than Horatio Caine interrogating a suspect, meanwhile, Branston should stick to pickles.
The obvious choice for beans on might be a light fruity red, Beaujolais, for example. So with typical contrarian attitude I opened the fridge door and selected a Petit Chablis. Bad choice.
The sweetness of the tomato sauce clashed horribly with the dryness of the wine and made it taste bitter. Fortunately the wine tasted much better with the second course, blue brie with spring onion crackers.
Once the food was over I took the opportunity to evaluate the wine on its own. A little smooth butter but quite sharp and some bitterness remains – a bit too much citric acid, mostly lemon flavour. Nonetheless, quite drinkable if your stomach is over-alkaline, for example if you have an inexplicable addiction to Milk of Magnesia.
This Petit Chablis is currently available from Sainsbury for £6.99.