Wine Review: Blanville Vermentino paired with the Pesto Pasta Recipe *

Pesto Pasta Recipe

[Ad-gifted] Today, we are featuring a wine which has been sent to us and that is a white Blanville Vermentino from Blanville Vineyard, a Pays d’Oc wine from the Southern Coast of France.

The wine we are featuring is a white wine and although it is recommended to be paired with a chicken/turkey dish,  I felt it needed something fresh to accompany it – so I have decided to pair it with this Kaffir Lime Pesto Pasta which I was desperate to try by Football Chef Jonny Marsh on Instagram. I am sure this would be the perfect alternative.

When it comes to pasta there is nothing more simple than making pesto, but often it’s quite a rich flavour with a silky nutty texture, however, I wanted something with a bit more zing to it that would perfectly balance with this wine. I chose Jonny Marsh’s recipe as it has a citrus burst and a bit of heat with some red chilli which I thought would work well with the Blanville Vermentino. In the words of Curtis Hascall, head winemaker at Shale Oak Winery in California, “Vermentino’s bright acidity and citrus notes harmonize beautifully with the herbal richness of pesto pasta, creating a balanced and refreshing dining experience.”

Keep reading and find out what I created and how this fresh white wine tasted.

What I thought of the wine 

The Blanville, Vermentino white wine has a clean fresh taste of citrus, however, its smooth texture means it is easy to drink and would work well with flavourful salads, chicken dishes and pesto pasta dishes (like the one we made). This is a wine made with the Vermentino grape that is usually grown in the Western Mediterranean regions of Southwestern France and North-West Italy.  The Blanville bottle has been produced by Haut de Blanville in the Languedoc region.

How it paired with the Kaffir Lime Pesto Pasta 

Firslty, I should mention – I couldn’t get hold of any kaffir lime leaves so I had to find an alternative and with the help of the internet, I found that lime zest works just as well. If you find you can’t find some of the ingredients, it is always best to find an alternative than simply miss it out, as it will affect the flavour of the final dish – but always try to stick to the original recipe as much as possible in order to make it as authentic.

This pasta dish packs a punch and I actually reduced the amount of garlic and ginger in this recipe, purely based on personal taste and I am sure you can do the same – I will however, write up the original Jonny Marsh recipe and then just write my amendments at the side.

The flavours from the pesto – which are actually hard to distinguish when they are all together – work so well. I was worried that the mint would overpower the other flavours but you can’t quite tell which flavour you can taste more distinctly than the next, it simply tastes yummy. It worked so well as the heat and fresh green flavours brought out the citrus in the wine.

Ingredients

x8 Garlic (I used 3 garlic cloves – but you could use whatever you feel comfortable with)
40g Ginger (I used around 20g of ginger and bought prepared paste as I couldn’t find any root ginger on the day I made it)
x1 Red Chilli sliced (I used half as I had super spicey chilis that day)
6x Kaffir Lime Leaves (I used x1 whole lime zest – as I couldn’t get hold of these)
80g Fresh Coriander (there is around 35g in a bag in the supermarket)
20g Fresh Basil
20g Fresh Mint
150ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil (although Jonny has it written as 200g of oil)
Salt and pepper to taste (I think you actually need a generous amount of salt to balance out some of the strong flavours from the garlic and ginger)
500g Linguine

Method

Cook the pasta as instructed on the packaging, then whilst the pasta is cooking in a smoothie maker or blender add in the herbs, ginger, garlic and chilli and blend until smooth, slowly add the oil and continue blending until you get a pesto consistency.

Once the pasta is cooked, add it to a prepared bowl and add the pesto and quickly mix and then serve on to plates. We also added some parmesan, but you could serve it as is, or with cheese if you prefer.

Where can you get Blanville wine? 

You can purchase a bottle of the Vlanville Vermentino wine from wine-searcher for just £9.

About Blanville 

The vineyard has now been running for over 25 years and is continually growing and producing quality natural wines free from additives which is refreshing for dedicated French producers to achieve.

You can find out more about Blanville and the wines they produce here on their website.

Review by: Lex Ward

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Wine & Recipe Review : Chateau Viranel White Wine

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