Champagne before the chicken.

Most of the time when it comes to food and wine matching we think of the dish first and then seek out a suitable wine match. Last week at the G.H.Mumm Scientific Food Pairing Masterclass, which was part of The Harpers Champagne Summit held at the well organised Soho Hotel, there was a different approach. Danny Hodrien, food flavourist for F&F Projects, assessed all of the champagnes from the Mumm range using gas chromatography to identify at a molecular level each of the key flavour compounds for each wine. Iain Graham, Executive Chef of Urban Caprice, then provided food matches for all the champagnes based on the scientific results.
The response from the audience at this masterclass was terrific as I described each Mumm champagne we tasted, with Danny then getting everyone to smell one of the key molecular flavour components of the particular champagne we had just sampled. Iain Graham then delivered the trump card with the food match.
This really illustrated how Mumm’s champagne range can be matched to a diverse selection of dishes for example, Mumm 2002 with roasted pork belly, served with macerated blue cheese and spiced bread crisp. Whilst Mumm Rose NV was enjoyed with yellow fin tuna sashimi, served with green mango and papaya salad. Delicious and original.