Wine with your cooked Cabbage

Posted on 17. Jun, 2007 by marriedWineGuy in Drinks, wine

So what wine would you drink with the cabbage rolls your mother sent you home with from your visit earlier this week?……………Times up. It was something I had to take a few minutes to consider myself.

Let’s see, you’ve got cooked cabbage, stuffed with a meat and rice mixture, covered with a tomato and carrot concoction. That’s a lot of different flavors.

Let’s try a 2001 Pinot Noir from Porter Creek, a little known vineyard in the Russian River Valley of California. We paid about $32.00 for this wine in 2003 while visiting the winery. We loved it in the tasting room and I’m sad to say that this was our last bottle. I chose the pinot because I didn’t want to drink anything that was actually going to compete with all of these delicious home-cooked flavors. The wine had to be a background to the flavors of the dish. I think this is true of most wine/food pairings; this one especially.

Porter Creek makes such wonderful Pinots. They start with a dark and fruity nose and a first taste of light jam-berry followed by some slight peppery bits and a stunning and long finish at the end. Again this is in contrast with the sharp though delicious cabbage rolls. Now I don’t often challenge the singleGuyChef and I don’t even know if he’s ever made cabbage rolls. But if he does and wants to do a taste test, well, my money’s on mom.

You’re not likely to get your hands on the 2001 vintage of a Porter Creek Pinot Noir, again they’re just a little winery tucked back on a winding road making stellar Pinots. They are currently offering their 2004 vintage at $65.00. That’s a lot of money for a bottle of wine. While there are a lot of overpriced California wines at this price, this isn’t one of them. I haven’t tasted 2004 but I will confidently recommend it to you. Enjoy.

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