大象传媒

This show has two really tasty satisfying dishes, and provides two very different challenges for the wines.

I have chosen wines that are truly versatile, refreshing but subtle fish wines

Joe Wadsack

The vinegar and the mushrooms provide a real challenge for the wines. In order to give front stage to that delicious chunk of meaty white fish, I have chosen wines that are truly versatile, refreshing but subtle fish wines. One is an unusual white from Burgundy in France, and the other two are delicious examples of perhaps France’s best known fish match, Muscadet sur lie, from the Loire near the Atlantic coast.

Tom’s hake with button mushrooms & vinegar

1. Bourgogne Aligoté 2012 Albert Bichot (£12 Oddbins)

Thirty years ago, Aligoté was a relatively maligned grape variety, used only for house wine and for making the classic French apéritif, called Kir, where blackcurrant liqueur is added. This is a beautifully light, citrusy white that has a subtle richness that just rocks with white fish.

2. Fief Guérin 2013 Muscadet sur Lie, Loire France (£7.99 Waitrose)

This is a little lighter, but even more quaffable and refreshing, and no slouch with a bowl of mussels either. A wonderful session white for the summer months.

3. Domaine de la Mortaine 2013 Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine sur Lie (£9.95 )

A few extra quid and one can buy something truly vivid and delicious. This wine has more concentration of flavour, crisper fruit and a much more vivid smell of lemon curd and green apples. Wonderful wine for affordable money. This very wine was the first Muscadet that I can ever remember tasting. Happy memories.

Richard’s lambs liver and kidneys, rind on bacon & crushed potatoes

1. Palataia Pinot Noir 2013 Pfalz, Germany (£8.99 Marks & Spencer)

This wine works because it steers down the middle of what lamb's liver wants and what lamb’s kidneys want. The liver prefers a slightly feistier sour cherry punch, and the kidneys like a lighter sweet-fruited lightness. Here, with a gentle Pinot Noir, we have the best of both worlds.

2. Domaine de Valmoissine Pinot Noir 2012, Domaine Louis Latour, PGI Coteaux du Verdon, France (£9.99 Majestic)

Made by one of the biggest names in Burgundy, but much further south in the Provence, north of Marseille, this is a wine that I have enjoyed for many years. It’s a little more gamey than the German wine, but has a lovely herbal, earthy quality that would work with game as well as with offal.

3. Bourgogne Rouge 2012 Domaine Joël Rémy (£12.50 Lea & Sandeman)

For good measure, I have included a real Burgundy. It may seem pricey, but this is truly great value from a very good producer of Pinot Noir in the southern areas of the world’s most sought-after Pinot Noirs. It is firmer, tighter and more ‘serious’ than the others, but will be like velvet with a perfume of violets in a year or two. A wonderful wine.

*Please note that the retailers and prices listed were last updated on 22nd December 2014, and these drinks may also be available at different retailers.