Red wine works with red meat while white is the perfect accompaniment to fish, right? Wrong. Wine expert Willie Lebus rips up the rulebook on a wine evening at Kensington Place and here’s what The Artful Diner discovered…

“You’re doing everybody a disservice.” That’s what Willie has to say on the strict rule most of us abide by when choosing a bottle of wine, that white wine is for fish and red wine for red meat. “It’s the vehicle that matters,” he adds with a flourish. (Willie is unafraid of a well-placed flourish.) He is also not one to mince his words and what he’s saying is that when choosing wine to match food you need to consider the entire dish.

Garnacha and chilli garlic prawns

For example, at one point during our six-course tasting evening we eat grilled prawns smothered in chilli and garlic sauce. These are washed down with gulps of fruity, deep pink garnacha from Spain. It works beautifully, because the lip-smacking acidity of the wine cuts through the oily prawns, while the wine’s fruitiness draws out the natural sweetness of the shellfish.

Willie is a director at wine merchant Bibendum, where he has been since the late 1980s. He has chosen wines from the Kensington Place wine list to pair with some of KP head chef Dan Loftin’s signature dishes. As with much wine and food matching, there’s a bit of experimentation involved. He doesn’t pretend that all the matches are perfect. This is a journey of discovery for everyone and he reminds us to trust our own palates.

Pinot noir from Burgundy with smoked fish

A surprise comes at the start when a dry pinot noir from Burgundy accompanies the smoked fish platter. This is no easy match for any wine, featuring as it does the strong flavours of smoked cod’s roe, mackerel pâté and smoked sprats. I would always beware drinking red with oily fish, but La Moutonnière is delicious with the mackerel pâté and very good with the sprats.

I can’t resist asking Willie why. “The great thing about this pinot noir is that it’s dry with a good, high acidity and relatively low in tannins,” he explains. “Where you get bitterness problems with fish is when you have a lot of tannins and fish oils together.”

Australian shiraz and fish soup

We all agree that the third course comprising Dan’s fish soup is so full of flavour and perfectly seasoned that actually it works best on its own. Willie’s chosen Australian shiraz is not a bad match; it’s full body and flavour of brambles with a hint of tar stand up to the rich soup. But once we add the garlicky rouille and gruyère cheese the wine just gives up.

Beaujolais and brill then brunello di montalcino and tuna

A real coup is the roast brill with fennel salad, which Willie pairs with beaujolais from Morgon. In his words it’s a “light, airy, fairy wine with a hint of morello cherry”. This is the wine I think many of us would happily drink all evening and it’s a brilliant partner to the delicate brill.

We finish with the meaty fish, tuna, accompanied by ratatouille. To match, Willie has opted for a big strong brunello di montalcino from Umbria. Overall, he has chosen wines from all around the world, showing that different styles of red can work. It just depends on the textures and flavours you’re pairing them with.

Thanks to Willie for ripping up the rulebook so well and to Dan for some beautiful fish dishes.

Further information:

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Learn more about the menu and wine list.