Win a luxury Spanish food and wine hamper from Mercado 44
And some good and bad news …
Happy New Year to those of you who are long term matchingfoodandwine subscribers. I hope you had some nice cosy downtime over the Christmas and New Year break.
You’ll be pleased to know we have a great competition to kick off 2023, a luxury Spanish food and wine hamper from our friends at Mercado 44. We offered one this time last year and it was one of the most popular competitions of last year.
The good news is that we’ve extended the deadline for entries until mid-February. The bad - although I hope not too disappointing news is that we won’t be running a competition EVERY month from now on.
Why? The simple answer is that it’s become a case of the tail wagging the dog. matchingfoodandwine.com is basically a resource for those who are looking for inspiration as to what to drink with their favourite food - or pair with their favourite wines.
Like many sites we started doing competitions when we started up back in the noughties to encourage people to sign up to our mailing list and they became so popular we didn’t like to stop. But it takes a lot of work - and an extra part-time member of the team - to set them up and administer them - time that would be better spent, quite frankly, putting extra content on the site.
I’m not saying no more competitions - we’ll still do them when someone offers us/you a great prize - just that it’s not principally what we’re about. Stay tuned though if you want to be kept informed when we do.
I’m also trying to build the number of benefits for those of you who are generously supporting my Substack newsletter Eat This, Drink That which currently includes a monthly cookbook giveaway and discounts on products I love and think you’d enjoy like our current 20% discount on Extract Coffee. So if you do feel able to sign up as a paid subscriber you’d benefit from those as well as my hottest food and drink tips. You can sign up for just £4 a month (though an annual subscription at £3 a month is a much better deal 😉)
So what’s in the Mercado 44 hamper?
A whole load of luxury Spanish ingredients including 100% bellota grade hand carved jamón Ibérico, Don Bocarte Cantabrian anchovies, Riojan white asparagus, Wood fired Restaurant Gueyumar preserved seafood from Asturias, a litre of their own extra virgin olive oil, Valdespino sherry vinegar and a selection of delicious savoury and sweet snacks.
There are also six wines including the Bar 44 manzanilla en Rama (one of my favourite sherries), two gorgeous Spanish reds and whites and a bottle of Vilarnau’s organic Cava plus a copy of their recipe book ‘Bar 44 tapas y copas’ to inspire you.
If you’d like to be in with a chance of winning it click here. The closing date for the competition is 11.59pm GMT on Sunday February 12th 2023 and you must live in the UK and be over 18 to enter.
In case you missed it …
I was never convinced by the combination but you CAN pair Sauternes and chocolate. Here’s why …
Still got some Stilton - or Stichelton - knocking around after Christmas? Try Jeremy Lee’s gorgeous Stichelton, pear and walnut salad
Or if you’re looking for a fresh idea for a hearty midweek meal try Tom Kerridge’s Sausage, Tomato and Butterbean stew
I suggested you should give these bottles for Christmas but maybe you should just treat yourself
You might find these posts useful
What to pair with vegan food (which might help if you’re doing Veganuary)
For you dry Janners - What I drink when I’m not drinking. (It does need updating. I would definitely add Sipsmith’s Freeglider which is on offer at Sainsbury’s and Waitrose at the mo to the list.)
And if you’re trying to live off your fridge, storecupboard and freezer, as I am again at the moment, you might want to read How I’m tackling #nospend January
Chinese and Vietnamese New Year are both coming up on January 22nd, so check out 6 versatile wine pairings for a Chinese New Year feast, what type of wine pairs best with Vietnamese food and maybe make Uyen Luu’s delicious Vietnamese chicken salad
And finally it’s Burns Night on the 25th so you might want to know which foods pair best with whisky and which wines pair best with haggis if you’re not a whisky fan.
Anyway hope you’re surviving this miserably dark soggy January. Looking forward to the lighter nights ahead!
Fiona
I don't have a horse in this race (I don't live in the UK), so I can say I think you do a LOT of giveaways! The benefit for us expats? Hampers are fun to read about. Sigh.