Chile and the United Kingdom, South America and Northern Europe: two distinct countries that at first glance have very little in common, whether in terms of language, food or culture. And yet, believe me: if we put on the table a traditional English cheese like Shropshire Blue, a blue cheese from medium-aged cow’s milk and a Chilean wine like Polkura’s Malbec, you will be embarrassed by so much harmony.
Malbec is a black grape variety with French origin that gives wines of excellent quality that come mainly from the renowned province of Mendoza in Argentina, but not only. In Chile, and in particular in the arid and granite Colchagua valley, characterized by excellent temperature variation, the Malbec cultivated by the Polkura company (which survived a fire in 2008) gives a structured and soft red wine with typical notes of ripe cherry, like cherry in alcohol, with light herbaceous shades supported by a tannins and a certain minerality: a full-bodied wine with very intense and balanced bouquet.
But it is precisely when the intensity and power of this Malbec is combined with the softness and that bitter touch of Shropshire that you can only close your eyes and fully enjoy the perfect combination.
It has rarely happened to me to appreciate so much a wine-food pairing ; if I then think of those 12,000 kilometers that separate them, this pairing is even more amazing.