Pork Wine Pairing

[RyanPico]

I'm looking to pair a wine with a pork dish.. Sautéed pork loin with a cranberry and pear mostarda, ricotta polenta, brussels sprouts & hazelnuts. My mind immediately goes into white territory, which would be fine, but I'd like to move away from whites, as all the other dishes in this particular meal are paired with a white. What do you guys think? If I'm absolutely stuck with a white, which would work? If not, what sort of reds do you think? Any help will be really appreciated. Thanks!

[ChefJune]

So what did you end up going with? If you did the mostarda, I can't imagine anything other than Gewurztraminer going with it at all. Pork with other accompaniments is really wine friendly, but you chose a doozy. ;)

[DonShirer]

Vinho Verde? Tried this with Pork Loin recently. Seemed to work.

[goldangl95]

Would disagree -it's not the meat that is problematic with this dish - it's the sweet fruit accompaniment. Unless one likes their wine very very sour, the sweetness of the sauce will make vihho verde (already the limeade of wines) even more sour.

[RhonelyInsanediego]

Anyway, the OP was hoping to get some red recommendations for his already white wine dominated dinner.

[RhonelyInsanediego]

A good Rhone wine has worked for me in the past. I have had success even incorporating syrah into my berry based pork sauces.

Pata Negra from Villa Creek, is a predominantly mourvedre based wine [Mouvedre (65%), Syrah (15%), Tempranillo and Grenache (10% each). ] and is delicious with pork! And it even has a nice Iberico black piggy on the label.

[Chinon00]

Belgian beer like an Abbey Dubbel would naturally have enough body and sweetness to absorb the mostarda and finish nicely. Just a thought.

[collioure1]

Riesling - at least semi-dry. If I understand mostarda (made of candied fruit) which I have never encountered, a late harvest could be very interesting.

[goldangl95]

A well made new world Pinot Noir from Oregon or Northern California in the first five years of its life or a riesling is what comes to mind.

[zin1953]

Agreed. But -- as far as Riesling is concerned -- I wouldn't go for a late harvest

[collioure1]

Jason, I'm understanding that the pork is bathing in the mostarda. If the mostarda is just on the side and one is matching to the pork, a tropical central coast Chadonnay seems in order.

[RyanPico]

Yup, pretty much bathing in it.

[RyanPico]

Thanks for the responses. Definitely interested in your Pinot Noir recommendation, mainly because it's a red. Any details about the profile would be helpful. Does anyone object to the Pinot Noir recommendation? Any more info would be great. Thanks again.

[goldangl95]

So if the cranberry and pear mostrada is actually dessert/candied sweet, then the Pinot Noir won't work (it will taste sour and/or bitter). You're stuck with off-dry to sweet wines like riesling or gewurtzaminer.

If it's just normal fruit sweet (no added sugar beyond what comes from the fruit itself), then new world Pinot Noirs tend to have a lot of fruit in them and as long as they are "lively" should work well.

Try to find 2008 or 2009 if you can as 2010 was a pretty bad year for the West Coast (so the fruit notes are shy). Of the most mass marketed pinots, I'd give La Crema a try. If you have access to more of a selection, try to find Domaine Drouhin, Domaine Serene, Cristom, Lynmar, Copain, Flowers etc.

[RyanPico]

The gewurtzaminer sounds interesting. I'm thinking something off-dry, as the "sauce" is the only sweet element on the plate and a wine that also accents the more roasted flavors would be ideal. Any regional suggestions? Vintage? Really appreciate all of your help.

[collioure1]

But if the mostarda is the "sauce" on the pork and not a side element, that will be the dominant taste on the palate, and any wine matched just to the pork meat will likely fail.

If that is the case, I'll second Gewurz, at least semi-sweet. That tastes good to me too.

Alternately, if you want to serve red wine, scrap the mostarda in favor of dried cherries, cranberry juice and rosemary.

http://www.fostersmarket.com/recipe/r...

Now you can do Pinot Noir or any of several Italian reds.

[goldangl95]

As collioure1 notes, sugar can be deathly to most wines red or white. If the taste of sugar sweetness is on your tongue, the wine will taste bitter or sour until that taste is erased - and it is not erased easily - certainly will not be erased because it is served with meat (think of super minty toothpaste and how that taste can linger and ruin other foods).

So if it is dessert sweet/has added sugar beyond the fruit, I'd highly recommend going with an off-dry to sweet wine.

[wally]

Not a wine, but I've paired a pear mostarda pork roast with pear cider. It worked well.