An unusual wine-tasting this week; instead of just a table laid out with wines to taste, there was a carefully constructed meal designed to marry harmoniously with the wines. The wines were those from Madfish Bay in Western Australia, the food was created by Johnathan Pratt, executive chef at The Druid's Glen Hotel, the dining audience was composed of a few lucky food and wine journalists.

The starter was chicken liver and foie gras parfait served with a truffle brioche and a red onion and fig chutney. This was accompanied by the Madfish Riesling 2003. There's a prejudice, I know, about Rieslings - they are almost indelibly associated with German wines and therefore carry that baggage. But in the cool climate of Western Australia it matures well and modern vinification techniques ensure that all the fruit flavour is extracted and is balanced with enough acidity to make the wine harmonious. This acidity is what worked so well with the fattiness of the foie gras.

Next came the South Coast scallops on spiced cous-cous with a cherry tomato and mint tea smoked grapes. Big, fat, fresh scallops perfectly undercooked were happily complimented by the garnish. And the grapes were just as described, smoked with mint tea - very unusual. The Madfish Unwooded Chardonnay accompanied this, a well-balanced wine that worked happily with the seafood, complimenting rather than overpowering the subtle taste of the scallops.

Our main course was grilled rack of lamb, which came with an aubergine and courgette farci, and was dressed with a red pepper pistou. To go with this we moved onto the reds - for this course the Madfish Shiraz 2001, a big, strongly flavoured red redolent with the dark tones of chocolate, cherries and hints of liquorice. Certainly big enough to hold its own against the complexity of the lamb dish.

Lastly came the organic goats' cheese with a walnut crumble. This was a particularly felicitous combination, which even with a depleted appetite was easy to eat. It was combined with the Cabernet / Merlot blend from 2001 and thus the meal ended. If all of this sounds good to you, you can have the same meal with the same wines for the next few weeks as part of the Druid's Glen Marriott 'Wine and Dine' evenings, where the food and the wine are charged at €75 a head on Friday and Saturday nights.

Wine of the Week

Madfish Unwooded Chardonnay 2002

On balance I found myself leaning towards the crispness and freshness of the Madfish whites, so this week's pick is the Chardonnay. I liked the Riesling too, but I feel that as an accompaniment to food the Chardonnay will give you more possibilities of pairings. The cooler climate ripening tends to bring out the floral aromas and the barrel fermentation has added a complexity to the crispness, so it's a wine that's at once easy to drink and sufficiently long on the palate to be interesting.

Available Redmonds, McCabes, Devines, Gibneys and selected off-licenses. RRP €15.95