Chardonnay with beef? Brilliant

John Torode is on a mission to change the way food and wine are matched.

White wine with fish; red wine with meat.

This is the often repeated phrase when it comes to matching food and wine.

But winemaker Neil McGuigan and John Torode, of UK MasterChef fame, have thrown the rule book on the barbecue.

The pair, who have come together in New South Wales' (NSW) Hunter Valley to film a series of online videos on the topic, want to challenge conventional wisdom that dictates heavier food goes with reds and more delicate flavours are accentuated by white.

"I want to embrace people into wine, and John wants to embrace people into food, rather than having it in an elite position," says McGuigan, son of Hunter wine pioneer Perc McGuigan who passed away in January, aged 100.

"We don't want wine to be a case of 'you don't know the top five chateaux in Bordeaux? I don't want to speak to you because I know them' we don't want that."

Torode, who grew up in Maitland, a city in the Lower Hunter Valley, puts on an apron and demonstrates at a lunch that there's no such thing as a wrong wine when it comes to matching food and plonk.

The celebrity chef dishes up a simple entree of juicy, fresh prawns and pours everyone a glass of light red wine.

Everyone tries the prawns with a dollop of truffle mayonnaise and a glass of 2009 McGuigan The Shortlist Barossa GSM (grenache, shiraz and mourvedre).

"As a modern man I've had various relationships and those relationships demand various people want various things," says Torode, who moved to the UK in the 1990s.

"In one of my relationships that person only drank white wine so I had to adapt the way in which I cooked so that they would enjoy the food."

After the crustaceans and red wine, Torode serves a main of barbecued T-bone steak, a salad and a loaf of crusty white bread.

Rather than serve the paprika-rubbed beef with a red, Torode pours a white, the 2012 McGuigan Bin 7000 Chardonnay.

"You have that beef with a glass of red wine, it's lovely, have it with a glass of white wine and it's really brilliant.

"The smokiness and sweetness of the paprika makes the white wine come alive."

Although the men are demonstrating new ways of pairing food with McGuigan wines, the concept transcends brands and labels.

"We just want people to play with wine, enjoy it," says McGuigan.

The astute businessman, who has claimed the title of "world's best winemaker" three times at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London, is focused on expanding his company's portfolio of wine to appeal to all tastes and budgets.

"You have to keep doing new and exciting things," says McGuigan, who is chief winemaker of McGuigan Wines and the boss of Australian Vintage, a publicly listed company that includes McGuigan Wines, with one winery in the Hunter Valley and one in the Barossa Valley.

In April, McGuigan Wines will release their highest priced wine, The Philosophy cabernet sauvignon, which will retail for $150 - a dramatic difference in price to their Black Label brand.

"We were entry-level and we did a very good job of that, but we want to go further," he says.

Although the wine industry is facing headwinds from the surging dollar and global oversupply, McGuigan remains optimistic about the industry, which is highly export driven with two-thirds of the grapes crushed in Australia destined for overseas bottle shops.

"The UK is our biggest market, but the US is a big opportunity for us and we're going well in Canada.

"Value wise, our wine is the best in the world."AAP