Pork with Apple & Onion – Wine Pairing

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Gewürztraminer:  Phillips Hill 2016 – Pairing Rating:  9.5 out of 10.0

This is an update of a post we published years ago with the recipe added below, as it is no longer available online. This pairing is perfect for winter and too good to sit buried in the back of the blog.

It’s the Holiday season and winter is on its way. The good news is that we have very promising vaccines for COVID-19, and 2020 will soon be behind us. The bad news is that depending on where you live, grilling season may be over. That’s not such a bad trade when you consider what can be done to make roasts as interesting as grilling, which brings us to exploring food and wine pairings for roasted meats. In this post – pork.

Let’s focus on the most challenging roast:  Pork Tenderloin. It’s always been a bore to us. Essentially fat-free, it’s a member of the dull family that counts skim milk, rice cakes, plain yogurt and cauliflower as siblings. But there is a way for pork tenderloin to escape from this family:  roast it with fruit. We posit that pork has a natural affinity for the soft sweetness of roasted apples and the sunlight of raisins. Throw in onions for texture and caramelization; and pair it all with a bright, juicy white wine. Now you’ve got our attention. The recipe is provided below.

Why not pair this with red wine?  Essentially, reds are too bold for the dish – too much acid, tannin and red fruit. As we have often advised, the focus of the pairing should not be on the protein; rather on the “sauce” – in this case the sweet fruit and onions. Dispel any thoughts of Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc – too lemony and acidic. Rather, think apricot, peach and nectarine wine flavors and aromas to complement the sweetness of the compote.

Our first thought was dry Gewürztraminer. As vinified in California, dry Gewürz pairs beautifully with smoked, salty, slightly sweet and spicy dishes. Our favorite producer is Phillips Hill from the Anderson Valley in Northern California.

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The Phillips Hill Gewurztraminer 2016 ($24) is dry but with exotic floral notes of pineapple and honeysuckle. The mouthfeel is full and rich with peach and passion fruit, and the acidity and alcohol are relatively low. The wine is not sweet, yet the intensity of the tropical fruit may cause one to think so. In our view, it’s the perfect complement to the compote while bringing some pizzazz to the pork tenderloin. The Phillips Hill is only available at the winery. More widely available is the Trimbach Gewurztraminer 2016 ($24) from the Alsace region of France, a region noted for its rich, flavorful white wines.

If you are not a fan of Gewürz, you may want to consider pairing this dish with a Pinot Gris from Alsace. Richer and fuller than the Pinot Gris from Italy and Oregon, this Alsatian wine resembles Gewürz in body, but can have some oak elements, as barrel aging is not uncommon in Alsace.

Any of these whites will remind you of summer, bringing tropical sunshine to your winter dinner table. This food pairing is a great excuse to give Gewürz a chance – an overlooked white that overachieves as a pairing partner.