Over the last twenty-seven days in Calgary, it has been Pork Month #yyc, where restaurants around the city present their best Alberta pork dishes to yyc bacon enthusiasts. Passion for Pork aims to celebrate the amazing quality of pork in both Alberta and B.C., raised under the strictest of conditions and animal care.
Hotel Arts’, Annual Pig & Pinot Festival on June 18th, showed off the best recipes of 13 different restaurants, all of which competed for the Divine Swine Award. Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc wine pairings took part and in the end, Black Pig Bistro in the Bridgeland area took the prize with their roasted pork belly with edaname and green and white beans masterpiece.
On the Passion for Pork website, you can find cooking methods and amazing recipes for ground pork, ham, chops and more! In celebration of Pork Month and the upcoming Canada Day, sort-of long weekend, we have taken two of these delicious dishes and paired them with some recent WineCollective features.
Grilled Maple Pork with Peaches
Because eating maple infused food just sounds like the thing to do on Canada Day. This recipe would make a great pair with the 2012 Mac & Fitz Shift’s End Red. The maple, together with peaches will blend with the red berries, vanilla plum notes and low acidity. Balancing out the sweet with dried fennel, chilies and rosemary, the dish will go nicely with the soft tannins of this easy drinking Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc blend. This wine also shows well slightly chilled!
BBQ Pork Chops and Spiced Rhubarb Chutney
We’ve paired the dish with the 2012 Renacer Ponto Final Reserva. This Malbec is a balanced blend of red cherries and plum with spice, dried herbs and olives. Similar traits continue on the palate with red and black cherries rounded with wood and earth. This is a toned down Malbec that brings together spice and fruit, similar to the recipe! It is soft, silky with cottony tannins perfect for BBQ pork.
If you received these wines in your WineCollective package, celebrate Alberta pork and Canada’s birthday all at once this weekend! We would also love to hear about your own pairings on our Facebook and Twitter page!
p.s. Calgary members, we have some exciting news coming soon! Keep an eye out for details on a new pick up location from WineCollective!