Kurobuta Pork, Cote Rotie, A Perfect Wine and Food Pairing

The key to creating the perfect wine and food pairing is, keep it simple. Buy the best ingredients possible. Don’t over cook your meal. With wine, look for texture and weight. Similar textures and densities are often more important than seeking for matching flavors. Similar flavors are not always as exciting as opposites. You’ve heard the old saying, opposites attract, right? That is the theory behind the marriage of sweet and salty.

Returning to the weight and density part of the discussion, Rhone Valley wines and pork remain one of my favorite wine and food pairings. Cote Rotie, from the Northern Rhone offer a melange of flavors that pair perfectly with pork. Fresh cherries, spice, bacon fat, strawberries, herbs, pepper and earthy flavors are common in Cote Rotie wine. There is the perfect amount of lift from the acidity to allow the wine to refresh your palate and while concentrated with layers of fruit, the wines are not too heavy for “The Other White Meat.”

Kurobuta Pork is from the Berkshire pig. This pork has a pink tint and the marbling allows you to grill at high temperatures, or slowly braise it. Grilling the perfect pork chop is easy. Start with high heat to give it a crust. After a few minutes, lower the heat. Pork is a good canvas for a myriad of flavors ranging from sweet, hot or spicy.

Depending on the preparation and spices, pork pairs will with numerous red or white wines. I thought about grabbing a Bordeaux wine. But the Rhone section caught my eye. I picked a bottle of Cote Rotie, popped the cork and did justice to the dinner and the wine!

Jamet Cote Rotie

1991 Jamet  Cote Rotie – Black raspberries, grilled meat, smoke, bacon fat, earth, spice, pepper and herbs grab your attention, and keep you focused on what’s in your glass.  Powerful and stuffed with a wild, masculine, personality, the wine offers ample freshness and purity. The meaty finish is filled with ripe black cherries, pepper and Provencal herbs. This beautiful expression of Cote Rotie is drinking perfectly today.