So I am gastronomically visiting Georgia today. The Country not the state. I made a traditional dish called Mtsvadi (grilled pork skewers) and paired it with wine made from ancient grapes.
Welcome to Wine Pairing Weekend......
Andrea of The Quirky Cork invited us to join her in exploring Under the Radar European Wine Regions. This sent me to Georgia where they have been growing grapes and making wine forever receiving little acknowledgement of their wonderful work. I decided to pair my wine with a traditional Georgian dish, Mtsvadi.
We are all meeting up to talk about the wines we found and the pairings we made tomorrow morning on twitter chat at 11 AM ET following #WinePW. We hope you can join us. Here are the topics we will be discussing........
- Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla posts From the Same Latitude as Other Pinot Noir Powerhouses: The 2017 Macedon Pinot Noir Matches Two Meaty Dinners
- Jeff at Food, Wine, Click! looks at Under the Radar in Croatia with Franc Arman Teran
- Gwendolyn from Wine Predator looks at 3 Wines from Sicily’s Etna Volcano Paired with Pork Sugo #WinePW
- Kat from The Corkscrew Concierge takes us Beyond Wine - Kosovo’s Stone Castle Vineyards Provides Pride, Hope & Jobs
- Linda at My Full Wine Glass features Dry or dryish, Hungarian Furmint is having a moment
- Nicole at Somm's Table explores Stranger Grapes with Eric Danch of Danch & Granger Selections
- Susannah from Avvinare shares Slovenia Wines from Brda, Not to Be Missed
- Terri from Our Good Life looks at Ancient Gamza in 2021: Best Wine with Burgers from Eastern Europe
- Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm has Georgia On My Mind
- Andrea from the Quirky Cork takes a Deep Dive into Hungarian Wine
While I was making dinner, Frank poured the wine. I let mine breathe for a bit while I threaded marinated pork chunks onto a skewer. Then I swirled and sniffed....it was very grape-y. Almost smelling like concord grapes. I sipped....it was juicy and mouthwatering...it was also very dry. Yep, mouthwateringly dry. That is now a thing since I tasted this wine.
I enjoyed this glass while Frank grilled the Mtsvadi. We sat down for dinner and I took a bite of the pork. It was a little off putting. I knew I had marinated it in vinegar but it still snuck up and surprised me. The second bite was better and the sip of wine made it even more palatable. So while the pairing was a success the dish will probably not ever get made here again. It was tender, it was edible but it was not to our taste. Much like sauerbraten is not to our taste. It's not bad, it's just not going to be our first choice.
If you like vinegar and you enjoy sauerbraten then I daresay you will like this dish as well. We all ate our fill but we did not go back for seconds....except for the wine.....that bottle quickly became a fond memory.
I did know that Georgia is considered the birthplace of wine with a long history of winemaking. Archeologists have found evidence of winemaking in this country dating back 8000 years.
I ordered this bottle from wine.com. They had quite an extensive article on this wine and it caught my attention. I am sharing an excerpt of that article with you today.
"Enter Lost Eden, an exquisite red blend created to showcase Georgia’s unique winemaking traditions while conquering the hearts of US consumers. Partnering with Georgia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Levan Gachechiladze, who leveraged the fall of the Soviet Union to establish a successful Georgian wine joint venture with the drinks giant Pernod Ricard, Lado Uzunashvili, an 11th generation prominent Georgian winemaker, and Tariel Chichua, a young and motivated Cornell MBA graduate launched Lost Eden in the US to forever pivot Georgia’s winemaking industry towards the West. Vinification: Made with the traditional Saperavi grape, the fruit is crushed, de-stemmed and transferred into separate vats.
Throughout fermentation it is handled gently to ensure soft extraction to retain the suppleness and smoothness of the finished wine. The fermentation is stopped early to retain some natural residual sweetness – at an optimal level – for the final style requirements. The most authentic part of the blend comes from the wine that is made in traditional Georgian Qvevris (pronounced que-v-ree), which is added to the main blend towards the end of fermentation. The two unique components marry in harmony until bottling. Georgia has a documented tradition of winemaking, dating back 8,000 years. Wine is an intimate endeavor at the heart of Georgia’s history, deeply intertwined with religion, family traditions, hospitality, and everyday life. However, 70 years of forced dependence on the Soviet economy led to more than 60% of Georgian wine being exported to Russia, giving the Russians considerable economic power over Georgia’s wine industry. With the launch of Lost Eden in the United States, the stage is set for Georgia to ease themselves from this heavy economic grip."
I am very glad that this endeavour between Lost Eden and the USA has been formed. This wine is amazing and at $20 RSP will be a bottle I enjoy time and again.
We are done with all of the Easter Leftovers now so we are moving on to other things with this week's menu. Two of my dinners this week were scheduled to be enjoyed before Easter but plans got changed. I am also extending the menu to include next Saturday. We are leaving Sunday on vacation and won't be posting a weekly menu next week. That is also the day that Frank is holding a CPL class so you will see the breakfast and lunch that I will be serving the students. We will probably order in carryout for dinner. What's on your menu this week?
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Mtsvadi (Grilled Pork Skewers)
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. pork stew meat
- 1 lg. onion, half grated, half sliced
- 2 1/2 c. red wine vinegar
- 2 t. kosher salt
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 T. pomegranate molasses
- Sweet and Spicy jam for serving, if desired
Instructions
- Place the pork, grated and sliced onion, vinegar, 2 teaspoons of salt and a few grinds of black pepper into a gallon size bag that seals. Press out the air so that the pork is covered in the marinade and refrigerate for at least 4 hrs and up to overnight.
- Thread the pork onto metal skewers, discard the marinade and let pork come to room temperature.
- Grill over high heat for about 15 minutes, until lightly charred on all sides and an internal temperature of 160* is reached.
- Remove from skewers to a platter and drizzle with the pomegranate molasses. Serve with a hot pepper jam, if desired. I served it with my Peach Jalapeno Jam.
Notes:
Adapted from a recipe found in Food and Wine.
Thanks for joining me this month, Wendy! I'm sorry to hear you didn't care for the mtsvade! It's one of my favorite dishes in Georgia.
ReplyDeleteI thought I would like it but not so much......
DeleteI love vinegar and will be trying this dish. Now to get my hands on some Georgian wine! Cheers.
ReplyDeleteCheers Cam and I highly recommend the bottle I opened.
DeleteA Georgian restaurant in Washington, DC, has been very popular recently, along with their cookbook and several other cookbooks of Georgian cuisine. The food I ate there was fabulous, but I don't recall any like yours.
ReplyDeletebest... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I haven't been to DC in years but perhaps the restaurant will still be there the next time I go.
DeleteI've read that Georgian wines are rustic - did you find it so? Good for you for trying the local cuisine, even if it didn't work out.
ReplyDeleteI didn't find it rustic. It was smooth, delicious and evenly balanced. However, rustic is good too...When I think rustic, I think of the bottle that our exchange student shared with us...It was amazing.
DeleteI'm glad you found a winner of a wine, even if the pork wasn't a hit. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nicole.
DeleteThat's a lot of red wine vinegar! I wonder if there's a version that uses red wine? I know very little about Georgian wine and food but I really want to visit!
ReplyDeleteI think it is meant to be sour from the vinegar. Many people like that flavor profile. I'm just not to keen on it. I have had several other Georgian dishes that I loved.
DeleteLoved that you tried your hand at the local cuisine. I"ve been so curious about the wines from Georgia and really hope to be able to experience some soon.
ReplyDeleteWell I can only speak for this bottle but it was very nice.
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