Wine and Rabbit Pâté Revisited

Web browsing can be like beachcombing: you might stumble on something interesting but most likely it won’t be what you’re really after or need at that moment. Surfing the net for wine, especially, can feel like a desperate orienting pastime at best, leaving you hopelessly drowning in a virtual pool of labels you simply can’t get your hands on anyway.

That’s how I fleetingly felt when I stumbled upon the Decanter webpage featuring three wine pairings by female Master Sommelier Paz Levinson to the delicious rabbit pâté en croute recipe by 2 star Michelin chef Michel Roux Jr.

Her particular labels of Pouilly-Fuissé (100% barrel-aged Chardonnay), red Savigny-les-Beaunes (lively and heavy Pinot Noir) and Amontillado (naturally dry Sherry) all seemed spot-on matches but also near impossible to find locally.

Never mind, though. Even if they were readily available, when in Malta, isn’t it more appropriate to serve a wine with local flavour to match what in essence could pass for a modern Maltese dish anyway? And thus I happily went down the rabbit pie hole looking for a scrumptious Malta-grown wine match instead.

So as not to get distracted from finding the appropriate style, I stuck to a shortlist of different bottles from just one winery and actually tasted each one alongside the actual dish. Three of the wines were suggested by culinary professionals in Malta’s hospitality trade whose palate I respect and whom I had sounded out for their personal Delicata recommendation.

John Zahra, Lecturer Food & Beverage Operations at Malta’s Institute of Tourism Studies, proposed trying either the easy-drinking 2014 Maltese Falcon Merlot or the fuller-bodied Gran Cavalier Merlot. The soft summer and ripe black fruit flavours of both reds contrasted agreeably, nay, impeccably with the foie gras ingredient. I particularly appreciated the concentration of both the Gran Cavalier and its fullness similar to that of Levinson’s proposed biggish Pinot Noir. But, as John rightfully said, choosing between the two Merlots is a matter of personal preference.

Next up was the 2015 Victoria Heights Chardonnay, a dry white wine suggested by Malta’s talented Kevin Bonello, Chef de Cuisine at The Xara Palace Relais & Chateaux in Mdina. He recommended serving it at 12 °C to bring the vanilla, honeyed and slightly tropical goodness to the fore. It did indeed offset the gamey flavours perfectly and the wine’s fair tad of tart citrusy brightness worked in a revelatory way. Its mouthfeel brilliantly laced all flavours together.

As I meandered from one wine suggestion to the next, forth and back between the continuous ebb and flow of complementing and contrasting favours of the rabbit pâté and wines, I chanced upon another bottle idling around. Just for good measure, I pulled its cork and the purplish 2014 Medina blend of Syrah, Grenache and Carignan oozed with raspberry fruit, kitchen cupboard spice, and dealt ample acidity to cut the fullness of the dish.

Far from a cast-off choice, the Medina red blend is that rare find, resting on the driftline between bigger reds and fuller flavoured whites. It’s just a little treasure that, like the other Delicata wines too, works well. These bottles might not wash up for free but neither wine will wreck your purse when you revisit this rich rabbit pie yourself one day.

For the recipe and original list of wines, you point to http://bit.do/rabbitrecipe whilst all four Maltese bottles are conveniently available from your local wine store.

This article by Georges Meekers appeared first in the Times of Malta, 5 February 2016.