A cracking food and wine match: Wendouree Cabernet Malbec 1998 & red wine, porcini, shitake and chestnut risotto

On Saturday I posted the first of three exquisite food and wine matches I enjoyed over Christmas and New Year, Jo Pithon Anjou Les Pepinieres 2005 with baked thyme and garlic-studded Vacherin Mont D`Or (which I served with celery and Poilâne toast).   Today, I’m sharing with you my favourite main course match, Wendouree Cabernet Malbec 1998 & red wine, porcini, shitake and chestnut risotto.

I bought the Wendouree after a tasting of Find Wine’s Wendouree-heavy portfolio (reported here) and I must say, it more than lived up to expectation, almost a meal in itself such was its penetration of flavour and length.  But it worked well with the equally satisfying and velvety risotto, finding echo with the earthy complexity of the mushrooms and the rich, sweet chesnuts while having the acidity to keep the whole in balance.  Divine.