As a nation we have many fantastic and quirky traditions such as afternoon tea, cheese rolling, Maypole dancing, hot cross buns and English ale, however I have no doubt that the nation’s favourite has to be the great British Sunday roast, especially after a pint or two of the aforementioned ale!
To get the most out of your Sunday roast, the quality of the ingredients can make a huge difference so it’s always worth trying to select the best meat possible, and for me there is no better place than the local butcher. Another key element to a great roast dinner is, of course, the wine! Ultimately the choice of wine that best accompanies your roast dinner depends on personal taste and the type of meat you are serving, however there are some "rules" that can be applied to narrow the choice down a little. For example, lamb and Rioja, venison and Pinot Noir, chicken with Chardonnay and beef with red Bordeaux.
On Sunday I decided to go with a nice aged rib of beef, and whilst any half-decent wine will make an acceptable partner, when using prime cuts of meat the real challenge is to find a wine that does it justice.
On this occasion I actually selected the wine first and then went along to my local butcher to choosethe meat. At times my wine rack can make for very sad viewing but this weekend I found it to be literally bursting with various options. The wine that I selected was Viña Lanciano Rioja Reserva 2004 from Bodegas Lan as this wine had received some great coverage in the press from the likes of erobertparker.com and winespector.com. I had been keeping a keen eye on this wine for a while and was saving it for a day when I had a serious piece of meat to go with it.
Viña Lanciano Rioja Reserva 2004, Bodegas Lan
The wine worked exceedingly well with the beef; delicate vanilla aromas on the nose set up this wine perfectly, leading onto dark, spicy cherry flavours that balanced superbly with the juicy medium-rare meat from the inner rib. The acidity of the balsamic notes combined fantastically well with the melt in the mouth fat marbling that ran through the joint. Everyone present on Sunday thoroughly enjoyed the Rioja and luckily I was able to do justice not only to a lovely rib of beef with all the trimmings but more importantly the outstanding Viña Lanciano Rioja Reserva 2004 from Bodegas Lan (£26.26 per bottle)
Written by James Ceppi di Lecco
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