What's in season: April

Tom's wine recommendations:
A crisp young Chablis is perfect with this flavoursome first course; in fact we like Chablis with many smoked fish recipes. If you like something a little riper and richer, then go for an Australian Semillon or Semillon/Chardonnay blend. Or, for something very different, try an English white wine with the smoked fish, and save some for the cheese.

Sharpham Estate Reserve, made from the Madeleine Angevine grape, and having spent a little time in oak, has sufficient character to support the flavour and texture of both fish and cheese, especially an English goat's cheese such as Ticklemore, or the blue goat's cheese, Harborne Blue, from the same Devon cheesemaker, Robin Congdon.

We recently had beef with a splendid Cotes du Rhone - a 1995 Cairanne, which is from one of the villages in the Rhone valley. Peppery, fragrant and full bodied, this is an ideal match for a beef casserole, or indeed, a roasted rib of beef with gravy, Yorkshires and all the trimmings. South Africa's Pinotage is also a good bet with beef, made from a grape that shares the characteristics of its parents, the Pinot Noir and the Syrah, from Burgundy and the Rhone respectively.

Creamy desserts can flatten even the liveliest of wines, so with the subtly flavoured tea cream I recommend Late Harvest Riesling and Gewurztraminer from Austarlia or New Zealand, a Muscat de Lunel from Languedoc, or a Moscatel de Valencia from Spain.