22408 Sun Dec 22 21:44:58 -0800 2002 4 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 82962 Need a good rec for wine to go with roast pork. It's a wonderful recipe from Provence, with sage, onions and olives. Olive oil mashers and rappini with aged balsmic as sides. Budget: $20-ish Timeline: Xmas Eve PS/I got a bottle of Hahn Estates '99 Meritage in Secret Santa game. Would that work?? Thanks in advance. Sun Dec 22 21:44:58 -0800 2002 0 tom in sf 1 82963 The Meritage may work, but with the Med theme, I'd try a good Gigondas or other southern Rhone red. A juicy Grenache-based wine with a hint of Herbs de Provence and white pepper should do well indeed. The 1998-2000 stretch made some fabulous wines. Sun Dec 22 23:20:47 -0800 2002 82962 0 deweyman 2 82972 I'll second the rec for southern Rhone red from 98-00 to complement the provençal flavors. If one is more accustomed to drinking Calif. wines rather than French, two producers I would suggest for bolder and more fruit-forward styles are Domaine Rocher for his Cairanne rouge, both the regular cuvee and the "Mr. Paul" and Louis Bernard Cotes du Rhone and other bottlings. The 99 Hahn Meritage, being from Monterey County's Santa Lucia Highlands, has a bit of olive and herbal flavor itself that would mimic the taste of provençe. I tried it last February as part of the Monterey Wine Competition. At that time it was relatively light-bodied and tight, but looking at the winemaker's notes (linked below), perhaps it has fleshed out since. Disclaimer: I'm acquainted with Dominique Rocher, owner of Domaine Rocher and Adam LaZarre, winemaker for Hahn. Link: http://www.hahnestates.com/wines_he/99Meritage.html Mon Dec 23 02:51:32 -0800 2002 82963 0 Melanie Wong 1 82983 Pork is one of the major themes in Tuscan cuisine and a Tuscan wine goes nicely with it. Thus, I would suggest a zesty Italian Sangiovese with some acidity and fruitiness to complement the naturally dense and fairly neutral meat of the pork. There are many good Chiantis, but a more appropriate choice would be a 97 Brunello di Montalcino. However, at $40 and up they are quite expensive. The next best thing, and sometimes even better, is a Rosso di Montalcino. which is similar to a Brunello, but not stored in barrels as long as BdM. You can find the 2000 vintage in many shops, including Lucca Deli on Valencia which usually has several RdMs available. The prices generally go from about $14 to $25, mostly clustered around $20. Some good brands would be Lisini, Altesino and Argiano. Mon Dec 23 12:33:57 -0800 2002 82962 0 svL 2 82985 I agree that Tuscans reds go well with pork, as I eat a lot of pork and drink a lot of Tuscan red wine!. Two Tuscan reds, that sell for no more than $10, worth trying are Banfi's Centine and a wine called Monte Antico. You can find both at BevMo. Three chiantis in the $15 range that are very reliable are those from Banfi, Villa Antinori and Frescobaldi's Nippozano. Mon Dec 23 13:25:21 -0800 2002 82983 0 DavidT