Wine, women and song

Wine glasses and grapes

Have you ever noticed that the bottle of wine you had on holiday was one of the best bottles of wine you ever tasted? Only to find the same bottle back home and be somewhat disappointed. Is that the same wine? It tasted better on holiday.

Wine and food are inherently linked with friends and events. Even an average bottle will taste great whilst over looking Lake Garda with the one you love. 

This was very true this week. My wife had recently bought tickets for my birthday to see Fleetwood Mac at the Phones 4U arena. That in itself ticks a lot of boxes. Having only recently found out about the bands turmoil and how they managed to pen such amazing songs about their on going relationships, Dreams, Go your own way, singing about each other's break up, faults and desires.

Equally as exciting was just to have a night out for dinner before the concert, just the two of us. 'Life moves by pretty quickly' as the saying goes and going out for dinner on our own is a rare event these days with two teenage children.

This also means I get to choose which restaurant to go to before the concert.

We ordered gnocchi with Gorgonzola in a Parmesan baked shell; tuna tartar; Italian baked flatbread with smoked meat and cheese; prawns with garlic and oil and Italian fennel sausage.

To accompany this smorgasbord, I decided to wash it down with one of Italy's most abundant white grape, Trebbiano, this one from Abruzzo of central Italy, 80km east of Rome and the home of its more famous red, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.

Trebbiano is one of the most widely planted grapes in the world. Also known as Ugni blanc, in France it is used in Cognac production due to its high acidity.

It's an excellent value dry wine that is consumed young, fresh and crisp with a slight hint of almond. Even in the city centre we only paid £18 a bottle. It was fantastic with our tuna tartar made by our enigmatic table manager at our table.

Matching a country's food with the same regions wine is usually a pretty safe bet. If your in doubt try Brie de meaux with Champagne for a special treat.

Our meal was a delight and finished off with an Italian Cheeseboard of Pecorino Sardo, Gorgonzola and creamy Dolcelatte. The Trebbiano beautifully accompanied all these dishes (even on the second bottle).

Fleetwood Mac ended our evening with a master class of music making. Ageing rockers playing their own instruments par excellence. Even Mic Fleetwood's drum solo was sublime, although Lindsey Buckingham is a genius, mesmerising wizard on the guitar. Stevie Nicks still looking and sounding good after all these years. All in all It was a perfect night.

We spent too much and really couldn't afford it but life is too short.

My advice, take your favourite person out to dinner, indulge yourself just for the night, even if you can't afford it. I'll bet you the wine tastes better and the memories will more than make up for a poorly bank account.

Food & Wine by Paul Sheerin
Pshearse@gmail.com