Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Australian wine, Italian food

A couple of worthwhile matches of Italian food and Australian wine from the past week:

1. Spaghetti with a sauce of speck, braised onion, rosemary, a little fresh tomato, and just-picked harvest of home-grown broad beans and peas. A 2009 Kay Brothers McLaren Vale grenache had an inky character that went well with the speck, onion and rosemary in the braise, and allowed the sweetness of the vegetables to come through.

2. 2005 Williams Crossing pinot noir (the Curly Flat second label) with double-peeled broad beans smashed up with olive oil, mint, salt and parmesan. Spread on grilled sourdough bread you have wiped over with a cut clove of fresh garlic. The sweet and salty in the food brought out the clean, refreshing acid of the wine, with the developed, just-mushroom characters doing well with the char on the bread.

Simple stuff, but reinforced to me the fit between honest Italian food and the diversity of Australian wine.

1 comment:

  1. I've got a few 2005 Curly Flat Pinots lurking in my cellar. Might have to get one out and try it with suggestion number two.

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