URBINA DINNER AT "THE CLOCK HOUSE" RESTAURANT IN RIPLEY
- Name: The Clock House
- Adress: High St, Ripley, Woking GU23 6AQ
- E-mail: alison@alisonjee.co.uk
- Phone: +44 1483 224777
- Web: www.theclockhouserestaurant.co.uk
The village of Ripley is about as pretty as it could be, given that it’s sliced in two by what clearly used to be the A3. It is rumoured that local legend Paul “the Modfather” Weller (whose mother, Ann, once worked as a cleaner at Shah Jahan, incidentally) has a studio nearby. There’s plenty of half-timbering, and a few grand Georgian houses, one containing The Clock House, which is indeed adorned with a large clock. Also The Clock House restaurant remains one of the most essential restaurants in Surrey.
Drake's restaurant in Ripley nowadays renamed The Clock House. Formerly was known as Drake's, they changed their name in January 2017 but nothing else has changed. It is owned by Serina Drake. Their head chef Fred Clapperton's food is widely acclaimed. The food is flavour focused, with an emphasis on clarity and simplicity, using produce that is both local and regional. Quality of ingredients and their provenance is paramount and we seek the best we can from within the UK.
Fred Clapperton has been appointed head chef at Drake’s in Ripley, Surrey, in succession to founder Steve Drake, who has left following his divorce from Serina. The couple founded the restaurant in 2004, winning praise from the Harden’s Survey for “adventurous” and “memorable” modern British cuisine. Clapperton, 28, joined Drake’s four years ago and has taken charge of the kitchen in Steve’s absences for a while, so no major changes are planned for the menu in the immediate future. Serina now owns the business under the couple’s settlement, while Steve retains his interest in the Anchor pub along the road in Ripley, which the couple bought with partners three years ago.
The Clock House was proud to host Pedro Urbina, a fourth generation winemaker and proprietor of Bodegas Urbina, for an exceptional evening of his exclusive red wines from Rioja. At this exclusive Winemaker Dinner, guest enjoyed a privileged access to the man behind these fantastic wines, who will showcase vintages dating back over 20 years. These was also paired with a unique menu, devised by head chef Fred Clapperton, to highlight the food-friendly nature of the wines and showcase the talent of The Clock House kitchen. The arrival was at 7.30pm, and guests enjoyed bespoke snacks with a glass of Cava before being seated at 8.oopm to enjoy a special five-course menu (each matched with a different wine) plus, of course, conversation and conviviality, in a relaxed setting. £130 per person to include food, wines, mineral water and coffee with sweets.
Urbina winery is a familiar exploitation, with four generations dedicated to the cultivation of their own vineyards, grapevines and to the production of wine. They have 75 Hectares of vineyard, which are cultivated in accordance with the traditional practices, not using herbicides and limiting the use of pesticides and fungicides. The production is not forced, not exceeding 4.500 Kgrs./Hectares. The wines are a conjunction of grapes proceeding Cuzcurrita village, the most western zone of the D.O.C. Rioja, which produces wines with a great capacity of aging, suitable for the Gran Reserva wines and aslo of Uruñuela village, placed in the heart of the domain of origin, producing wines of great consistency, with body, and very plesant in their youth.
It was a wonderful evening, thanks entirely to the unforced grace and charm of the restaurant’s front of house team: Edith Farkas (Head of Reservations), Fred Clapperton (Head Chef), and particularly their genial manager Joseph Pocceschi (Sommelier). As we experienced some truly stunning wines weaved in and around each course. Wine and food matching is the process of pairing food dishes with wine to enhance the dining experience. The modern "art" of food pairings is a relatively recent phenomenon, on the other hand, at the Clock House retaurant they master the art. The sommelier will present their food pairing recommendations for the guest, with a comprehensive approach. The main concept behind pairings is that certain elements (such as texture and flavor) in both food and wine interact with each other, and thus finding the right combination of these elements will make the entire dining experience more enjoyable.
- Snacks and 2010 Terrers Brut Nature Gran Reserva
- Monkfish, pumpkin, mussel, coconut, ginger and 2008 Urbina Crianza.
- Pigeon, broth, Douglas fir, rowan berry and 1998 Urbina Reserva Especial.
- Beef, sweetbread, kohl rabi, mushroom, mustard and 1996 Urbina Gran Riserva.
- Tunworth, truffle, honey, grape and 1994 Urbina Gran Riserva Especial.
- Bitter Chocolate, olive oil, goats milk, orange and Cesar Florido Moscatel Dorado.
- Coffee and sweets.
There are a few main basic flavor profiles that you can experiment with to develop a great food and wine pairing. Cooking is simply a balance of them: fat, acid, salt, bitter, sweet and alcohol. The basics of flavor-matching are actually quite simple, although not always easy to pull off. Of course, you can enjoy a delicious bottle of any wine that may not have anything in common with the food you are eating. But, believe me, it is one of life´s greatest pleasures to enjoy a meal where the wine is in perfect harmony with the food. At the Clock House restaurant, they have been on a quest matching good food with perfect wine to create unforgettable meals.
- Acidity in wine: pairs well with fatty and sweet foods.
- Fatty foods: need either an acidic or high alcohol wine, otherwise the wine will taste flabby.
- Bitter or tannic wine: can be balanced with a sweet food.
- Salty: shouldn’t compete with acidity in wine. Use sparingly as necessary to keep sharpness in the meal.
- Sweet food/wine: benefits from a little acidity.
- Alcohol: can be used to cut through fatty foods or balance a sweet dish.
The first factor to consider when looking for a perfect wine and food match is the relationship between the density of the food and the body of the wine. If the food is heavy, such as a stew or casserole, then you need to match it with a ripe, full wine, probably a red such as a Merlot or Shiraz. The strength of flavour of a dish, as a general rule, should be matched by the intensity of flavour in the wine that accompanies it. Chinese and Asian dishes, for example, which use a wide array of spices to create complex and intense flavours, need to be matched with wines that are also flavour-intensive; whites such as Gewtirztraminer or Riesling make a far better match than soft, oaky Chardonnays.
The acidity in the food is another important factor to consider. Dishes that include lemon, apple, or vinaigrette need to be matched with wines with high acidity Fatty or oily dishes (smoked salmon, or fish served in a beurre Wane sauce, for example) also require wines with a higher level of acidity, to cut through the oiliness of the food and add an extra taste dimension.
Some foods are notoriously difficult to match with wine: chillies, asparagus, eggs, and soup. The general rule would be to opt for a fairly neutral wine with not too much acidity. The problem with chillies is that often you can taste very little else, so don’t choose too expensive a wine. The flavour of asparagus is quite intense and needs a fairly intense wine to match, such as an oaked Chardonnay. It is best to avoid trying to match red wines with egg, but there are so many different egg dishes that experimentation is a must. A good starting point, however, would be an unoaked Chardonnay or white Burgundy. With soups, obviously the best wine match will depend on the soup’s flavour. In general though, is usually recommend wines with high acidity to cut through creamy soups, or perhaps a fuller red wine with its strong tannins.
The cheese course can be a tricky one. Not all cheese goes well with red wine. Generally, the harder the cheese the better it is with reds. Soft cheeses such as Camembert and Brie match well with white wines and, of course, there is the famous marriage (made in heaven) between goat’s cheese and Sauvignon Blanc.
- Salty Dishes Need Wines With Naturally High Acidity: It is no coincidence that tangy Fino sherry goes so well with tapas, like salted almonds, salted fish, and spicy, salty chorizo sausages, for example. Because this combination of appetizer and apéritif evolved together in the same part of the world. Salt in food has the effect of neutralizing acidity in the wine and allowing the underlying fruit flavours to come to the fore. Just as salt brings out the flavours in food. It is therefore best to choose wines that are naturally high in acidity to match salty dishes. With a salty cheese, such as Roquefort, always choose dessert wines with really zingy acidity, such as those from the Loire.
- Meaty Fish Dishes can Take a Light Red: Whoever had it laid down on tablets of stone that white wines are for fish and red wines are for meat should be put on bread and water rations for ever and a day. While it is true that tannins in red wine can create a nasty metallic taste when drunk with fish, there is fish and there is fish. Light, fruity reds with low tannins can match very well with fish with a dense, "meaty" texture, such as fresh tuna, salmon, and swordfish, especially if the wine is served slightly chilled. White fish, by contrast, tend to be light in texture and served with light sauces. These do need to be partnered with delicate white wines or, if the flavours are more intense, more juicy, aromatic whites.
- Oily Foods Need Acidity or Tannin: Some food-and-wine rules are about pairing like for like (sweet wines with puddings, for example) but others are about matching opposites, and this is certainly the case when choosing wines to complement oily foods. If dishes are oily, they are likely also to be fairly rich, sometimes creamy, but certainly with a degree of cloying opulence that needs to be tempered by the wine you choose to drink with them. If you are selecting a white wine, make sure it has a high degree of acidity, to cut through the fattiness or oiliness of the dish and leave a clean feeling on your palate. Tannin can do the same job, if you are choosing a red wine to match an oily dish, like cheese fondue, for example, it will need to be fairly tannic to avoid tasting flabby.
- Smoky Dishes Clash With Oaky Wines: Oak and smoke, in my opinion, is just too much of a good thing to make a good match. If you try to pair an oaked wine with a smoked meat or fish dish you are in danger of overpowering your taste buds with too many very similar smoky, oaky flavours, so that they will not be able to recognize anything else. Also, smoky dishes, by definition, have a strong flavour, and strong flavours in food need to be matched with a crisply fruity wine that refreshes the palate. Oaked wines have an oiliness and opulence that do not help to do so. White grapes to look out for that should guarantee an oak-free zone include Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chenin Blanc, and the Pinots Blanc and Gris (Pinot Grigio in Italy). For smoked meats, choose from my Lively, Fruity Reds category: any more tannin, however soft, may join forces with the smoked flavours to create a "hard", woody taste.
- Match Rich, Dense Flavours With Similar Wines: If your chosen dish is rich because it is creamy, try a crisp white wine to cut through the richness and refresh the palate. But rich dishes with greater weight and intensity of flavour normally require wines whose flavours and body pack a similar punch. If the wine is too light it can be overpowered by the flavours and textures in the food. There are some classic extravagant pairings of food with white wine in this vein , like foie gras and Sauternes and, less often served these days, lobster Thermidor with a Corton Charlemagne white Burgundy. But in the main we are talking rich, dense reds to partner hearty meat dishes here, especially those based on game or offal, where you need a wine with good complexity of flavour to compete on equal terms.
- Spicy Dishes Need Refreshing Wines: Some people find that spicy dishes can overwhelm lighter styles of wine and prefer to match them with richer or even sweeter wines. Chinese dishes generally work well with aromatic whites, such as German Riesling or Alsace Gewurztraminer, while more spicy Eastern cuisine benefits from being partnered with quite simple, crisp, dry whites, such as New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or like a Pinot Grigio or a Chablis. These wines help to refresh the palate. Curry is not easy to match with wine. There are some good white partners for the lighter, more fragrant curries, but beware of ordering reds: most curries tend to knock back the fruit in a red wine, so the tannins become dominant. If the food is extremely spicy it may be better to - just this once - forget the wine and stick to water or beer.
- Match White Meats with Full Whites or Light Reds: The flavours in white meats are, on the whole, much more subtle than those in red meats, and so chicken, pork, and turkey dishes in which the meat is roasted, poached, or grilled in quite a simple style, rather than heavily flavoured or richly sauced, work really well with more subtle wines, such as light reds. However, over the last few years, there has certainly been a trend for whites to become fuller and more opulent, especially the big, oaky-fruity New World wines, and these heavier whites have also proved good partners for white meat dishes, probably because their complex aromas and oily opulence balances and harmonizes with the mellow flavours in the meat.
- Red Meats can Take on Strong Tannins: For lamb cutlets or shepherd's pie, I'd choose a fruity Merlot-based wine, but heavier fare gives bigger-bodied reds a chance to shine. Protein-rich food softens the tannin in red wine so that the fruit flavours are able to come to the fore more easily. Red meats can therefore be successfully matched with big, strong reds with firm s w . tannins without you having to worry that the fruit in the wine will be overpowered. Cheese also has a similar effect on wine; the tannins are absorbed and the wine tastes more mellow and easy to enjoy. The more austere tannic wines can be made much more food-friendly by decanting; temperature helps too serve them slightly warmer than usual.
- Match Wine to Sauces, Not What´s Underneath: The maxim "red wine with dark meat, white wine with light" is a little misleading; most wines can, in fact, be served with most meats. When trying to make the perfect wine and food match, it is much more likely to be the sauce served with the meat, be it chicken or beef, that takes precedence. Lemon chicken, for example, goes well with a Chablis from Burgundy, but the same wine would never be a good match for coq au vin, which needs a fruity, unoaked, lightly tannic red. Similarly, a steak au poivre needs a medium-bodied, low-tannin red, but a beef goulash can be matched with a ripe, full- bodied, fruity white. With wine-based sauces, it's often true that the wine you cook the dish with makes the perfect acccompaniment to the meal, which makes life a little easier.
- Match Desserts with their Weight in Wien: The weight and sweetness of a dessert wine needs to match the weight and sweetness of the dessert. It's obvious really — would you want to drink the same wine with a raspberry fool as you do with a sticky toffee pudding? It may sound unlikely but it's true that the intensity of sweetness in a sticky toffee pudding can be enhanced by a really rich, sweet dessert wine; if you tried to drink a light, flowery wine with it, you can easily imagine that the flavours in one would destroy the flavours in the other. Don't forget, however, that sparkling wines can also be perfect matches for fruity summer desserts, particularly the semi¬dry and sweeter styles. And strawberries have an affinity with red and rosé wine, particularly if the wine also has strawberry flavours. Try them with a light Beaujolais, a blush Zinfandei, or even a sweet, sparkling red Lambrusco.