Food and wine matching is a subject on everyone’s lips, but with all the weird and wonderful suggestions everyone is making one subject often remains the poor relation : sweet white wines. They are usually relegated to dessert – when they can be one step too far – or to Foie Gras which is so politically incorrect these days, it can also be argued that these fine wines are best enjoyed alone. 

This was proved so wrong at a recent lunch hosted at Château d’Yquem and I can’t think of a better place to test this finest of sweet wines with food. 

Spicy and exotic dishes with Asian over tones of ginger and lemon grass work so well with these wines that seeing them served in Hong Kong and Japan is no longer a surprise but the chef at Château Yquem showed us that classic matches can work so well. 

Three vintages of d’Yquem : 2004, 1998 and 1988 were a perfect illustration of how these wines develop becoming more complex and more food friendly with age. 

The 2004 is still young, full of ripe fruit but with an elegant balance between sweetness and acidity, it complemented beautifully the lobster roasted in blood orange emulsion – the perfect foil for the citrus almost marmalade aromas of this younger Yquem. 

The more evolved 1998 with its vanilla and toasty notes adding depth to the floral and fruit was served with Ris de Veau and Truffles – the truffles perfectly bringing out the earthy aromas reminiscent of the botrytis character. The freshness of the acidity perfectly cut through the rich texture of the dish in its creamy sauce.

 A Classic finish for a classic vintage – The Château finished picking this 1988 vintage on All Saints Day (1st November!). Candied fruit, floral and slightly spicy nose, a classic Sauternes combination was served with a classic match : pineapple and passion fruit. Never underestimate the power of presentation – one of the many pleasure associated with these wines is the pleasure of admiring the rich amber colour of Sauternes with some bottle age that looked so beautiful with the gold and yellows on the dish. 

For more food matching and recipe ideas visit : www.yquem.fr