I don’t often think of Italian wine to pair with Asian food. But this discovery, a Pecorino, the grape not the cheese, from a winery Terre di Chieti in the Abruzzo region of central Italy was perfect with a Mongolian stir fry. It inspired thoughts of Marco Polo who spent 24 years of his life exploring Asia and served in the court of Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. I bet he would have loved this wine.
The Wine: Pehhcora Pecorino, Terre Di Chieti $$
The Food: A Mongolian stir fry with Tofu and Asian vegetables
The Place: Sunday dinner at home. Before settling down for an episode of Downton Abbey.
This wine magnificent wine has characteristics like a rich Sauvignon Blanc, but also interesting almost exotic crisp flavors of sweet ripe fruit of peach and mango with warm spices and minerals, so nice with the Asian flavors.
The dish inspired by a recipe shared by my young nephew blogger at Piet’s Fabulous Food, was adapted to include snow peas, watercress and sesame seeds.
I discovered Pecorino, the grape, no relation to the cheese, in fact the translation of pecorino from Italian to English is “doggy” go figure, some years ago and fell in love with this wine.
It is still rare in the United States so I grab a bottle whenever I see it. I will be back for more of this, discovered at Shoppers Vineyard for a very reasonable $15.
The wine would pair well with many Italian cheeses and antipasti as well as chicken pork and seafood dishes with herbs or light sauces.
You can find great Pecorino wine from it’s native place the Marche, Abruzzo, Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio regions of Italy. We also enjoy Saladini Pilastri Pecorino from the Marche.
A New York Times article by Alex Witchel entitled what Marco Polo Knew tells more about pairing Italian wine and Chinese food.
“Gary Price, a reader in Beijing and a stranger to me. He owns an Italian wine store there called Cambulac, the name Marco Polo gave the city when he road-tripped from Venice in the 1200s. Mr. Price, who champions the partnership of Italian wine and Chinese food, invited me to visit, so I could experience some pairings, firsthand.. Read More
We continued to sip as we watched Downton Abbey and I think that Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, would have enjoyed this wine too.
We recommend this wine that can be found at Shoppers Vineyard
Things to do, places to see, with food and booze
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