Fabulous Favorites Festival

This month, Wine Blogging Wednesday is on a Friday because founder Lenn Thompson of the Lenndevours wine blog has teamed up with Alberto from Il Forno a premier food blog and founder of Is My Blog Burning. So for IMBB 26 and WBW 21 the rules are fairly simple. For us wine bloggers, pick a bottle from your cellar and find a recipe to pair with it; for food bloggers it’s the other way round choosing one of their favorite recipes and then finding a wine.

So when I read about this theme last month, I immediately thought of a food podcaster, Anne Bramley of Eat Feed, to give me some recipe ideas for the wine I chose. I spoke with Anne earlier today and she gave me several recipe ideas that might match with the White Rose Estate, Pinot Noir I selected from my cellar.

After considering all of Anne’s suggestions, I picked the pork with apples and brandy cream we spoke about and cooked it for dinner this evening. Anne suggested a couple other recipes that can be found online here:

- Pork Chops with Quinoa Pilaf and Dried Fruit

- Pork Tenderloin with Gorgonzola and Figs

Here are my tasting notes for the wine and match with the meal. Much more detail is available on the podcast:

White Rose Estate, Pinot Noir, White Rose Estate Vineyard 2002 ($65/gift from Jay Selman from Grape Radio) - Ruby in color with powerful aromas of earth, black cherry and spice. Some people might be put off by the gamy, earthiness of the aromas of this wine, but I rather like this aspect. In the mouth its concentrated raspberry, black cherry and a little earth, finishing with supple tannins and good acidity to match with food. I really found this wine to be delicious, but I can see why others might not like this style at all. Score: 9/10

As for the match with the dish, I thought that the shallot cream sauce and the mild gaminess of the pork tenderloin matched almost perfectly with this wine, really enhancing the fruit. But when tasted with the sautéed apples, it really didn’t work too well. I think the next time I make this dish I’ll omit the apples or at least reduce the quantity down to a single apple.

Thanks for Alberto and Lenn for a great idea to merge the two leading wine and food blogging events and to Anne Bramley for some great recipe ideas. I’ll see you next month for WBW 22, where I most likely will not have to cook ;-)

Show Notes:

00:22 - Welcome and show theme

01:12 - Conversation with Anne Bramley of Eat Feed

15:03 - Selected recipe

16:58 - White Rose Estate, Pinot Noir, White Rose Estate Vineyard 2002 ($65)

18:14 - Wine and food match

20:12 - Contact Details

20:31 - Next Show Theme

Feedback: [email protected]

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