Our Perfect Easter Wine Pairings

Spring is in the air! We hope that you are enjoying the warmer temperatures and longer daylight hours, we certainly are at EWWines.

There are many Easter traditions celebrated all over the world but for us at EWWines it is about celebration and friends and family and getting together with your loved ones for a hearty meal, possibly a BBQ or just a feast and making the most of the long weekend.

This blog will explore our favourite theme Food and Wine. We will suggest wine pairings for Easter dishes we love to enjoy and our tried and tested wine pairings to inspire your long weekend get togethers. It is important to remember that wine and food is personal and there are very few disastrous pairings so the main rule is to enjoy what you are serving!!

We have a large range of sparkling wines for all budgets and are particularly excited about Exton Park and Lost in a Field Pet Nat and would highly recommend either to start your celebrations off, hopefully in the Easter sunshine with your friends or family almost as close as your chosen favourite sparkling bottle!

Orange Glazed Ham Joint

This recipe is perfect for Easter Sunday. It combines orange marmalade with Dijon mustard and ground all spice mix. Add the mustard and ground spices to the scored ham joint and roast uncovered on a baking tray to the time according to your oven and weight of the joint. For the last hour cooking, spread the orange marmalade on top of the joint for a delicious combination.

This sweet, salty and rich ham works best with a wine with high levels of acidity and a little sugar therefore a German Riesling or a good Pinot Gris would be perfect companions. Our first recommendation would be Gunderloch, Jean Baptiste Riesling Kabinett with its off dry palate, bright ripe citrus, apple, fresh acidity and floral lifted finish this is our top suggestion for your Easter glazed ham. This wine comes from the sun kissed slopes pictured below. The combination of steep slope, proximity to the river (for sunlight refraction) and south facing aspect combined allow for fantastic ripeness of their Riesling which contribute to the depth and ripeness of flavour in this wine.

Photo

For red, consider fruit driven New World Red or a Southern French blended wine such as a Corbieres. From Barossa Valley, Australia we highly recommend Sons of Edenand their Kennedy, Grenache, Shiraz, Mouvedre which is bursting with cherry and black fruits and the same all spice sweetness to compliment the spice in the glaze of the ham. This is classic old vine Barossa Valley wine with great depth, concentration of flavours and balanced palate of an outstanding quality wine.

BBQ’d Rack of Lamb

This is weather dependent but if things line up kindly then a real treat is to BBQ a rack of lamb on the BBQ. We like to herb crust and reverse sear then lightly smoke for best effect but however you cook sure will be delicious. The main focus is the rib meat which is rich and tender and dangerously moorish.

Particularly if the weather is kind (fingers crossed, at the time of writing the sun being particularly shy) this is screaming for large format rose, especially if you will have thirsty friends or family joining your celebrations. We have a variety of exceptional wines that would fit this brief but our first choice would be La Mascaronne Provence Rose 2020 in Magnum which is on offer for Easter at £36!!! This is one of Provence’s most outstanding wines, a true expression of their unique terroir, using only estate grown grapes and Certified Organic too. It is very good with a rack of lamb, just enough red fruits, freshness and ripe stone fruit flavours with a little spice and herbal finish which compliments the herb crust delightfully, so good is this combination that the only problem will be you will not want to share! Our second suggestion is a sparkling Australian shiraz! Pauletts Trillians Sparkling Shiraz to be exact. This is packed with plums, berries and spice and is not too sweet or oaky. This is welcome at any BBQ, served well chilled. The lively bubbles, dark fruits and subtle tannins compliment most charred flavours, particularly lamb or red meats and is always a great talking point.

Nut Roast with all the trimmings

Depending on your nut roast preferences but we love to fill with apricots, cranberries and other dried fruits with mixed nuts, sweet potato, mushrooms, black and red lentils, pomegranate seasoning and herbs such as rosemary, thyme and anything else that survived the winter!

Wines that work are similar to those which work with a traditional roast. Larger whites and bold reds, vegan friendly of course here. A red from Southern Rhone that fits the brief well is our Cotes du Rhone Les Oliviers, Vignerons d'Estezargues with its bold fruits, black pepper spice and hints of tobacco and earth and vegan friendly too makes this cooperative wine a fantastic match. The growers of the cooperative Les Vignerons d’Estezargues pictured below work together ¾ certified organic, the rest sustainable focus to produce this great value for money Southern Rhone blend.

Photo

For whites why not consider the same region I.e Southern Rhone and the wonderful Chateau Mourgues du Gres, Les Galets Blanc, Costieres de Nimes which is mostly Grenache blanc giving ripe stone fruits and citrus flavours with a blend of other varieties to add white pepper and a little floral lift. Organic and vegan friendly this pairs very well with a nut roast.

Roast chicken with all the trimmings

A staple classic. Go for an organic, corn-fed chicken for maximum taste season well with a slab of butter under the skin to maintain the moisture is our top tip here and season well before cooking. Wine wise this is possibly the most open to all styles but our preference is normally very good village level white Burgundy with polished elegant fruit, subtle oak, and a little bottle development to add some nuts and dried fruits to the mix and a touch of honey. Browse our White Burgundy list here.

However, we will look a little more left field for our suggestions in this blog and have a beautiful white wine from Spain in mind. El Garbi Garnacha Blanco is from Terra Alta a DO, next door to the famous DO of Priorat in Cataluna, North East Spain. Named after the cooling wind El Garbi, which preserves acidity and allows perfectly ripe Garnacha Blanco grapes with an abundance of apricots and white peaches with a little orange blossom. The wine maker then utilises oak to add a little creaminess and sweet spices such as vanilla and cloves, but beautifully balanced. Excellent with most things and really a match made in heaven with roast chicken!

Spring Greens Salad

All the seasonal greens including Asparagus, wild garlic leaves, spicy mustard brassica leaves and spring cabbage hearts in a simple olive oil, lemon juice and cracked black pepper.

Screaming for Gruner Veltliner here!! Our suggestion gives you the weight and texture and vegetal flavours and hopefully a little spice to balance the brassica heat. We strongly recommend the GRU Gruner Veltliner or a classic Austrian if you prefer. Hahndorf Hill GRU Gruner Veltliner is classically styled Australian Gruner with texture, vegetal notes, lots of vibrant citrus and stone fruits and a little white pepper spice. It is versatile and incredibly food friendly and would actually compliment any of the dishes we suggested in this blog it is that good!

(Photo)

Hahndorf Hill Winery is a boutique winery of just 6 hectares in the Adelade Hills of South Australia and are specialists in Austrian varieties, particularly Gruner Veltliner.

Rhubarb Crumble with Cornish Clotted cream

Our springtime favourite dessert. Add a little ground ginger spice to your crumble mixture to compliment the tart rhubarb flavours is our top tip and minimise additional sugar!

Wine wise, this very much depends on your budget. Browse our full Dessert wine list HERE. WE are thinking a delicate Monbazillac, Sauternes or even an Eiswein. However for a leftfield suggestion to keep in theme with this blog, a well chilled VinSanto compliments the rhubarb and ginger well with its nutty sweetness. Estate Argyros VInsanto 4 year barrel aged would be a perfect match and a real treat to finish your meal.

Chocolate Easter Egg hunt

Let us finish with a little bit of fun and our top tip to keep the kids happy is for an Easter Egg hunt! Planned well in advance, and eggs hidden before your Easter feast, will mean that you have plenty of time to chat and finish your bottles in piece whilst your little guests run around hunting for the eggs!

If you do get to share any of the chocolate, then our top suggestions to go with chocolate eggs would be Mozart Cream Liqueur or Kalkar Coffee Spirit depending on your preference for cream!

Happy Easter whatever you have planned from all of us at EWWines.