A Wine To Go With Sausages

If you cast your mind back to June 2017 you may remember Pete, Chris, and esteemed local butcher Johnny Pusztai hosting a wine and sausage tasting at our tasting rooms at No 17 Castle Gate. Johnny's meat has won dozens of national and international awards so finding wines to perfectly compliment the various flavours and aromas of his sausage was quite a challenge.

The Hallmark Grenache which we have included in this month's case was paired with a cured meat called Lardo. This is smoked pork of Italian and Hungarian descent which is salted and hung to dry for 12 months. It is then rolled in garlic, paprika and five different kinds of pepper and sliced incredibly thinly.

So where does this wine sit in our selection, well I find it is a complex meat which truly melts in the mouth so we needed a wine which could stand up to the complex smokey aromas whilst not being so robust that it overpowered the soft texture of the meat. We found that the Hallmark Grenache hit that sweet spot between a medium body and impressive depth of flavour. The rich dark fruit aromas harmonised beautifully with the savory notes of the meat, creating an uplift on the palate and emphasising the smokiness on the finish.