Sauced Pork

As I mentioned in the last post there were two sauces available at the pig roast.  One was a homemade version of a popular Cincinnati sauce from The Montgomery Inn.  It's quite sweet and tangy and not my personal favorite.  The other was a Memphis, Tennessee, style sauce with molasses, Jack Daniels whisky, tomatoes and other ingredients.  There's a bit more heat to it and it's less sweet.

Both those sauces overwhelmed the Schaefer Riesling, but the Memphis style sauce found a soul mate in a 2008 Zincinnati Zinfandel, a special blend made by McNabb Ridge Vineyards in Mendocino County north of Napa Valley for a local Cincinnati distributor, Tramonte and Sons.  It even comes with a pig on the label, reflecting Cincinnati's heritage as Porkopolis because it was once the hog butchering capital of the U.S.  The city is also home to the annual Flying Pig Marathon.

Lots of up front aromas of blackberries and oak.  There was a good, fruit forward taste reflecting those berries, and there was a good dose of the usual Zinfandel tannin. The fruit in the wine picked up the tomato taste in the sauce and the tannins made some good country music with the whisky flavors.  There was a touch of heat in the finish of this wine.  Nice match with the Memphis sauce. The Cincinnati style sauce was still fighting battles with any wine that came near it. 

Zincinnati Zinfandel from McNabb Ridge.  Price unknown.  15% alcohol.