Pork chop

Pork chop

Assuming a thick chop on the bone, grilled or pan roasted to a caramelised crust, with greens alongside.

Pork sits between white meat and red and the wine has to sit there with it. There is real fat to cut and a browned crust to meet, but the meat itself is mild, so a big warm red simply rolls over the top of it. Acidity matters more than power here, which is why this is one of the few main courses where a white can beat a red outright.

Pairs Perfectly. Dry Pinot Gris from Alsace, France. Fuller and more textured than most whites, with baked apricot, honey and a faint smoky spice that lands directly on the caramelised crust. It has the weight to sit with pork fat and the freshness to cut it, and nothing about it overwhelms the meat.

Pairs Well. Blaufränkisch, Burgenland, Austria. Sour cherry and black pepper over a fresh acid line with moderate tannin. Peppery reds and pork have always belonged together.

Pairs Well. Barbera, Piedmont, Italy. High in acid and low in tannin, which cuts the fat without fighting the meat. Reliable, everywhere and rarely expensive.

Worth Seeking Out

Mondeuse from Savoie, France. An alpine red almost never seen outside its valleys, dark and peppery with a wild herbal edge and firm acidity. It does what a northern Rhône Syrah does at half the weight, which is exactly right for pork.

Avoid

Heavily oaked, high alcohol reds. Pork is milder than beef and a warm, sweet, barrel driven red takes the plate over completely.

Failing That

A Chianti Classico, Tuscany.

If All Else Fails

Pinot Noir, Central Otago.

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