Wines for Seasonal Ingredients

Each month we pick one vegetable and one fish at their peak, and share a dish you can cook at home along with its recipe. The wines to pour alongside are chosen from the growers we import.

October 2026

This month's vegetable ── Mushrooms

Maitake, shiitake, button mushrooms: October is when their aroma runs deepest. Mix a few varieties and the scents and textures layer into real depth of flavour. The trick is to leave them alone once they hit the pan and let them take on proper colour. The water cooks off, and the savoury, toasty flavour concentrates.

Mushroom fricassée with a poached egg

Browned mushrooms, briefly simmered with white wine and cream: a dish from the French home kitchen. Break the soft yolk into it and mop it all up with bread.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1 pack maitake (100 g)
• 4 shiitake
• 6 button mushrooms
• 1 shallot (or 1/4 onion)
• 1/2 garlic clove
• 20 g butter
• 3 tbsp white wine
• 100 ml cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vinegar (for poaching)
• Finely chopped parsley, to taste
• Baguette, to serve
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Trim the mushroom stems. Pull the maitake into large pieces, quarter the shiitake and halve the button mushrooms. Don't wash them; wipe off any dirt with kitchen paper.
2. Heat a frying pan over medium heat, melt half the butter and spread out the mushrooms. Leave them untouched for 2–3 minutes until browned, then turn and colour all over. Salt lightly.
3. Add the rest of the butter with the finely chopped shallot and garlic and cook for about a minute. Add the white wine and let the alcohol cook off, then add the cream and simmer for 2–3 minutes until lightly thickened. Season with salt and black pepper.
4. Bring a small pan of water to the boil, add the vinegar and turn the heat right down. Crack each egg into a small cup, slide it gently into the water, poach for 3 minutes and lift out with a slotted spoon.
5. Spoon the fricassée onto plates, top with the poached eggs and finish with parsley and black pepper. Serve with lightly toasted baguette.

One extra step ── scatter over some crushed hazelnuts (or walnuts) to finish. The toastiness builds, and it chimes with the oak in the white below.

Wines to pour

Mâcon La Roche-Vineuse Le Clos 2023, Domaine Perraud
Chardonnay from vines averaging 45 years old. Ripe stone fruit such as white peach and apricot, with a subtle note of caramel from the oak. Its round texture melts into the richness of the cream sauce, while natural acidity keeps the finish light, and the oak falls in naturally with the toasty browned mushrooms. Don't serve it too cold; it is at its best once it has warmed a little in the glass.

If you would rather pour red Côtes d'Auxerre Rouge 2023, Domaine Goisot
Pinot Noir from cool parcels of the Grand Auxerrois. Cherry and raspberry, with a hint of undergrowth, and that forest-floor note echoes the scent of maitake and shiitake. Delicate acidity keeps it from feeling heavy, even with cream.

This month's fish ── Autumn bonito

In spring, bonito ride the Kuroshio current north; in autumn they return south as modori-gatsuo, the "returning bonito." By then they carry plenty of fat, and the rich, springy flesh is a different fish from the lean early-season catch. Sear just the outside and leave the centre rare: the French idea of mi-cuit, half-cooked, turns the Japanese tataki into a Western-style plate.

Autumn bonito mi-cuit with black pepper and balsamic soy

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 250 g sashimi-grade bonito loin, skinned
• 2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp honey
• 1 myoga (Japanese ginger bud)
• 2 spring onions
• 1 knob of ginger
• Baby leaves, to taste

Method

1. Take the bonito out of the fridge 10 minutes ahead and pat the surface dry. Salt it all over, then press the coarse black pepper onto every side.
2. Put the balsamic vinegar, soy sauce and honey in a small pan over a medium-low heat and reduce by about half, 2–3 minutes. Leave to cool.
3. Heat a frying pan well over high heat, add the olive oil and sear each side of the bonito for 20–30 seconds. The centre should stay raw.
4. Lift it straight onto a tray and rest it in the fridge for about 10 minutes (don't plunge it into iced water, so the peppery crust stays toasty).
5. Slice 1 cm thick and arrange on plates. Top with baby leaves, shredded myoga, finely sliced spring onion and grated ginger, and drizzle over the balsamic soy.

Wines to pour

Pinot Noir 2022, Le Rocher des Violettes
Pinot Noir from Loire vines over 55 years old. Lovely morello cherry fruit and a delicate, smooth texture. The gentle tannins never clash with the fish, and the red fruit falls neatly in step with the richness of the bonito's dark meat and the scent of black pepper. Give it 15 minutes in the fridge and serve it a touch cool.

If you pile on the garnishes Gigondas Rosé 2025, Domaine Saint Damien
A Cinsault-led rosé from the southern Rhône. Wild strawberry, white peach and a hint of herbs, with citrus acidity and a saline minerality that sits quietly alongside the freshness of myoga and ginger.

※ All food photography is for illustration.
※ Stock changes daily. Please check each product page for current availability and pricing.