Coming shortly on matchingfoodandwine.com ...

Good news for you competition lovers!

image by H_Ko at shutterstock.com

It’s been a while since I sent you an update on my website matchingfoodandwine.com and there have been so many new subscribers I wonder if some of you are even aware of its existence! 

It’s the website I set up almost 20 years ago, back in 2004 to focus on what wines to pair with different dishes and cuisines (and vice versa to help wine lovers discover which food goes best with their favourite wine).

Loads of people tell me how useful they find it which is hugely gratifying but doesn’t actually pay the bills! Which is why I originally set up this Substack to help meet the costs (there’s not just me but a team to support). 

Anyway Eat This, Drink That has been so successful in its own right with over 15,000 subscribers that it now gobbles up most of my time and attention but it would be massively appreciated if you could contribute towards my research and writing one way or another by donating to the site or subscribing to my Substack. You can do this for as little as £4.50 a month (although, as I never cease to point out, an annual subscription at £3.50 a month is much better value!)

One of the things I decided to cut down to reduce my admin costs was the number of competitions but I know that a lot of you are missing them so you’ll be pleased to hear there are a couple in the pipeline. A biggie which I’d hoped to nail by now but should hopefully have news of in the next week or so and a lovely competition for May/June. (You like rosé? You’ll be happy!)

Meanwhile there’s always some useful new content on the website including my Match of the Week feature which as the name suggests is the best food and wine combination I’ve experienced in the last 7 days.

Recent pairings have included:

Salad caprese (tomato, mozzarella with pesto dressing) and a delicious wine called Malagousia I recently discovered in Greece and which I think is going to be my new go to this summer.

Photo by Viktor1 at shutterstock.com

Ginger and chilli-marinated aubergine with a Uruguyan red called Lacryma Christi which I realise you’re unlikely to find down at Tesco but a similarly brambly Southern Italian red like Nero d’Avola would work too

Orange wine with braised cuttlefish and artichokes
You may not have come across orange wine which refers to the colour not the fruit it’s made from which is grapes not oranges. The colour comes from leaving white grapes in contact with the skins as you do with a red wine. Delicious. Try it!

Spicy spam and Mosel riesling (yes, really)
Who knew spam worked in sushi too? (Big discovery of my recent New York trip!)

If you’re looking for some less offbeat combinations there’s a number of ways to find them, putting the ingredient, dish or wine in the search box being the obvious one.

You could also check out the Wine with Food (or Food with Wine) section or just have a browse through the Top Pairings section in which you’ll find plenty of season- or occasion-related matches like what to drink with Thai food (given the Thai new year is coming up this week) and the best wines to pair with asparagus which is just coming into season. 

And if you’re new to the idea of food and wine matching you’ll find some useful introductory posts including A beginner’s guide to pairing food and wine and Wine and Cheese Pairing for Beginners.

Finally on Substack rather than Matching Food and Wine but I’ve got my first live ‘bring a bottle’ tasting session on Zoom tomorrow night (Wednesday April 12th) if you want to sign up or upgrade and join me.

Hope to see some of you there!

Fi x