An interesting match

This was a magnum of claret from the beautiful 2000 vintage I brought along to a KCC Wine Society Magnum Dinner. A nice claret from Listrac, I was going to pair it with beef and/or cheese, when my wife alerted me to an amazing new possibility. She is not as avid a reader of wine books as I and is thus less familiar with convention, but she can be adventurous in having a go at matching food and wine.

We were having a rich prawn or crayfish bisque, the type where you have a tomato base as well as a stock made from the shells. Richness also came with added cream and aromatic complexity is added with the brandy used either (or both) in flaming or as a later addition. I cannot locate my notes for the wine just now, but I remember that it was not particularly acidic either on the palate or in the finish, at least not in the Italian mold. Yet this wine can take the acidity of the tomato, the fishiness of the shellfish and the richness of the cream in its stride and complimented the soup. Maybe it was the ripeness of the tannins in the millenial vintage, but this was not accentuated by what is essentially a fish soup. Of course, it was also good with meat and cheese, but then that is no news.

Prawn bisque with claret is certainly something different and worth a try. I previously mentioned in the piece about the RP90 dinner, that the Italian Cabernet blend Crognolo did not go well with this soup. It could be the Italian style, or it could be the intrusion of  Sangiovese into the cepage. I'll keep to Cabernet Merlot blends next time.