Food and Wine Pairings

[Junior]

I'm doing a braised pork belly for a specail dinner this weekend. I am having some trouble pairing a wine for the dish. Any help ?

Thanks

[wattacetti]

How are you braising the belly?

[mtigges]

May I suggest a good IPA? Not wine, but goes great with pork IMO.

[jayt90]

Riesling from the best sources, Alsace, Germany or Australia, will fill the bill.

[GordonCooks]

What's the spicing and the sauce?

[nikkib]

A nice light red would work - New Zealand Pinot Noir or a nice Givry maybe.

[SBonner]

Not knowing the marinades, sauces and etc... I would recommend an Alsace Riesling, Splatese Riesling, or a good concentrated Aussi Clare Valley Riesing.

Cheers,

Stephen Bonner

Vancouver

[Junior]

We ended up choosing a Riesling from Hawthorne Mountain. Thanks everyone for your help.

[Nishla]

One of my favorite things about food is pairing it with wine (and other drinks). I've tried searching for a catch-all food/wine thread and haven't found anything. If there's interest, I'd like to get something going similar to the other mega-threads on the site. Hopefully if we get a good following, people can search this topic when they're planning meals, or just get some interesting ideas if they're trying new wines or foods.

What I envision is that people will post their pairings--all of them. If you had a shiraz that went great with a pizza, let us know. If your fancy clam dish made a chardonnay taste horrible, warn me! Even if your post is as simple as "I had Wine A with Food B and it was good", please contribute.

I'll get started:

Tonight we had cranberry-orange pork sausage, pan seared then simmered in spicy marinara.

There were a lot of flavors going on, so I had a hard time deciding on a wine. I picked d'Arenberg's Galvo Garage 2001, which is a blend of cabernet, merlot and cabernet franc that we got in the bin ends for ~$30. By itself, the wine has dark berry flavors, with decent earthy notes...ripe, but not jammy. The cranberry and orange flavors from the sausage really stood out, but I think the wine was a bit too earthy for a great pairing.

[Susan in FL]

Just wanted to let you you know that I saw this topic and I think it's a great idea. I'll be ready to contribute soon. Lately, I've been getting over some difficult times, resulting in physical illness, but now my appetite for food and wine (and life in general!) is returning. I'll post here when I either search out and find a great pairing, or stumble across one. Thanks for starting this.

[Nishla]

Susan, I'm so sorry to hear you've been having such a rough time lately. I really look forward to your input here, hopefully sooner than later

In the meantime, I had a nice pairing last night, made even better because it was a cheap, easy dinner and an inexpensive everyday wine:

Dr. Loosen "L" Riesling 2005 (~$12, I think) with spicy sesame noodles.

The wine is slightly sweet, with a lot of citrus acidity to back it up. It's great with asian flavors and spicy food. The sweetness tamed the spiciness a bit, but the wine is simple enough to not interfere with the other flavors in the noodles. The acid also helps the noodles not seem too oily.

[sadistick]

Ok, lets hear some suggestions...I would prefer a red if possible, but all ideas are welcome!

[Rebel Rose]

Well, that is a challenge. Can you tell us more about your recipe? Other ingredients? Is the risotto toasted first? Um . . . more clues? Other courses?

[sadistick]

Well, I plan on making a beet stock to use as the liquid, reducing it and having a strong beet flavour. If when you say toasted you mean cooking the rice before deglazing till they become translucent, then yes...always

I plan on using a mild flavoured cheese to finish the risotto, havent decided on that part yet, but im sure there will be parmigiano and maybe pecorino.

Just need a wine pairing for this course.

What other clues do you require?

[Marc Olson]

One Word: Zinfandel

[Craig Camp]

First pecorino in a risotto? I don't think so. Too intense for the delicate rice and too sharp for the sweet beets.

Matching a wine is not a problem. The sweetness of the beets requires a dry wine of with intense fruit sweetness. A modern styled Dolcetto is just the ticket. I would recommend the most current vintage available of Marcarini Dolcetto or another gem like that.

You can find my risotto method here

[Craig Camp]

One Word:  Zinfandel

←

Second word: oak and alcohol are a bad match for rice.

[KatieLoeb]

A really fruity Pinot Noir might work too, although I like Craig's suggestion of a dolcetto a lot.

Domaine Serene Yamhill Cuvee could be a worthy contender.

[Craig Camp]

A really fruity Pinot Noir might work too, although I like Craig's suggestion of a dolcetto a lot.

Domaine Serene Yamhill Cuvee could be a worthy contender.

←

Right you are! Of course, as a pinot noir producer I love it with almost everything!

[KatieLoeb]

That Domaine Serene is freakin' delicious!

The Dierberg 2004 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir I tasted today might be a good match too.

[britcook]

I've done beetroot risotto in the past and served it with a fruity NZ Pinot Noir, worked for me.

[sadistick]

First pecorino in a risotto? I don't think so. Too intense for the delicate rice and too sharp  for the sweet beets.

Matching a wine is not a problem. The sweetness of the beets requires a dry wine of with intense fruit sweetness. A modern styled Dolcetto is just the ticket. I would recommend the most current vintage available of Marcarini Dolcetto or another gem like that.

You can find my risotto method here

←

A younger pecorinno would contrast the sweetness of the beets quite well actually. Especially when its a blend of cheese and not all that much pec.

You guys mention Pinot for the fruit etc...would a shiraz work? or would that be too big?

Cheers.

[GordonCooks]

I guess I don't see the point in using a beet stock for a beet risotto. It will end up tasting like a plate of mushy beets. Use a veggie stock for the cooking process and add the beet "essence" at the end when you mount it with a little butter. Ditch the pecorino idea and mount the risotto with marscarpone in place of the butter.

Suggest a white - Maybe an Albarino or Gavi? Reds? Dolcetto is a great choice or a Barbera (Pio Cesare?)

[JohnL]

I guess I don't see the point in using a beet stock for a beet risotto. It will end up tasting like a plate of mushy beets. Use a veggie stock for the cooking process and add the beet "essence" at the end when you mount it with a little butter. Ditch the pecorino idea and mount the risotto with marscarpone in place of the butter.

Suggest a white - Maybe an Albarino or Gavi? Reds? Dolcetto is a great choice or a Barbera (Pio Cesare?)

←

Nice recipe idea.

A lot of this depends upon how rich and

intensely beety this risotto will be.

also white wine would be ideal.

However, I would suggest a richer fuller bodied white.

Chardonnay with some buttery richness and with earthy notes.

A nice big Burgundy or one of the modern style Italians.

for red--I would stay lighter and dry, a Barbaresco or one of the

better Valpolicellas!

[Brad Ballinger]

Before scrolling down to see Craig's reply, the first word to my mind was Dolcetto. FWIW.