PERFECT MATCH
As an acclaimed food critic and judge on MasterChef
Australia, Melissa Leong knows the importance of complementary flavours.
She shares her favourite food and wine pairings, and some not-so-guilty pleasures.
How would you describe your relationship with wine?
I approach wine through the lens of food. Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time with friends who work in wine and accumulated enough knowledge to know the ins and outs of what’s going on, but, like food, I think wine can be overthought and over-cerebralised, and that approach really isn’t for me. I know what I like and I know good wine when I drink it. I think it’s about context and company.
How important is beverage choice for you when it comes to the dining experience?
Beverage choice should be complementary, but never detract from the dining experience. I think in the right context it’s fine to drink Champagne throughout a meal and forgo the matched courses if that’s how you’re feeling.
What are some of your most memorable food and wine moments?
Good food and drink mean little to me without the company and context to make it meaningful. One of the best memories I have is eating tacos de lengua with a cold beer in a partially abandoned strip mall in the middle of California’s Yucca Valley at the back of a Mexican supermarket. It was with my husband Joe the day before we got married. Or going to Domaine LA on booze-writer Mike Bennie’s recommendation, leaving with a couple of cracking bottles of pet nat and some tasty wines from Scribe in Sonoma, where a friend was working. You could have filled a small bottle shop with the quantity of wine we amassed.
What are your favourite wine regions?
I like a little of the old and a little of the new. So, in no particular order, Champagne, Piedmont, Burgundy (in particular, Chablis), the Jura, east coast Tasmania and, closer to my new home in Victoria, Mornington, the Yarra Valley and Gippsland.
And your go-to food-friendly wine styles?
If in doubt, always choose an Italian varietal, whether it’s prosecco, nebbiolo or soave. Like most things Italian, [the wine] keeps food front and centre. My husband’s mum’s side of the family is from the Puglia region and we’re very much fans of the come-as-you-are, economical table wine.
Which wine region is still on your bucket list to visit one day?
Champagne, specifically Epernay. It sounds cliche, but I don’t care.
What drinks or wine styles are you loving right now?
We’re drinking a lot of things made by friends at the moment. We love pretty much everything by Pat Sullivan, as well as Andy Joy’s Little Ra Ra label and Melanie Chester’s wines at Sutton Grange. For my money, Mel is one of the most intelligent makers going, and it’s not just because we share the first three letters of our first names.
Any other favourite drinks?
Joe owns award-winning Melbourne cocktail bar Romeo Lane and is one of the most talented bartenders in the world, according to his peers (and me!). His approach is straightforward and effortless, and regardless of what I am drinking, be that cocktails, wine or whatever, that’s the approach I like to take. I can’t look past an expertly made daiquiri or dry gin martini.
Do you have any special wine traditions?
Just drink it, don’t overthink it.
Is there any wine you can’t learn to love?
Oaked chardonnays. No way, no how.
What’s the oldest wine you’ve tried?
It was from a friend’s birth year of 1954.
What’s been your best-ever bargain wine?
If I say it once, I’ll say it again – cheap, red Italian table wine. I get it from [distributor and online retailer] Giorgio de Maria, and it works like a charm, every time.
What’s your favourite food and wine match?
Every horrifically overused cliche is a cliche because it works. Duck and pinot, South East Asian flavours and riesling, offal and rosé. A perfectly even and pale football of a French omelette, topped with caviar and drunk with Champagne at breakfast features at our house if there’s something to celebrate, commiserate, or sometimes, just because.
What is your go-to knock-off drink?
A shot of Fernet Branca and a daiquiri.
Do you have any guilty pleasures when it comes to food or wine?
I detest the word ‘guilt’ in relation to food or drink. It is what it is. If it’s no good for you, don’t consume so much. Having said that, I like a good high-low combo. French fries and a bottle of Dom never hurt anyone.
Is there a wine that isn’t great, but you love anyway?
In our house, prosecco – almost any, but particularly the cheap kind – is drunk in preference to water.
Are there any wines you never used to like, but now love?
When natural wine hit the scene, I felt it was a way to sell faulty wine to people who were too proud to say, ‘I think this is awful, but I’ll drink it because I want you to think I know more than I do’. I still believe that, but there are definitely more great natural wines available to the masses, and that’s a good thing.
Is there a wine that’s taught you a lesson?
I’ve loved spending time with winemakers on their properties and learned, as I have with many other areas of agriculture, to appreciate the qualities the land and its terroir gives the produce. Time and place, and appreciating how difficult it is to cultivate and nurture something to fruition, should always be respected.
What food and drinks would you serve for your ultimate meal?
My death-row meal would involve sentimental dishes from all over the place: my mum’s Hainanese chicken rice with a really great bottle of Chablis or riesling; several great cocktails and a cracking set of Eurocentric snacks; and Joe’s apple tarte tatin, vanilla ice cream and a bottle of Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque Rosé to finish.
I LIKE A GOOD HIGH-LOW COMBO. FRENCH FRIES AND A BOTTLE OF DOM NEVER HURT ANYONE.