We got together with some friends on Sunday, all of whom have some Polish blood in their heritage. So we thought: Let's have a Polish food party. Sounds good on the surface, but guess who has to bring the wine? This is not going to be easy.
Here are some of the goodies that were on the menu: lunch meats like headcheese and krakow - we're talking fat, garlic and pepper here; pickled herring and oysters; two styles of Polish sausage (kielbasa); mushroom soup; pork stuffed cabbage rolls in a sweet and sour tomato broth (galumpkis); five different kinds of pierogi stuffed with either mushroom, potato and cheese, meat, sauerkraut, or potato.
Yikes! Forget the wine. Let's just drink vodka and beer! But no! I'm a wine guy. So I'm going to give this a try.
From my stash at home I brought a 2007 Les Aphillantes Cotes du Rhone Villages, a 2007 Chappellet Cabernet Franc and, from The Market, a 2007 Salva Tierra Cabernet Sauvignon. There were also a couple of whites, a Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, which were great as aperitifs, but did not work at all with the food. The Cotes du Rhone was too acidic and the Cabernet was too tannic. The Cabernet Franc, however, seemed to be just right. It was nicely balanced with good upfront fruit and no hard edges. It had a hint of pepper which went well with the pepper and garlic in many of the foods.
Yeah, the Cab Franc really worked. I'll have to remember that the next time we have a Polish food party - probably in 5-10 years.
Tom
Thanks for the tip on the Polish food - wine pairing. We're celebrating heritage with our next Wine & Cheese Plus party. Great fun for all. Our group includes roots from Poland, Norway, Italy, England, Scotland, Germany, Greece and Armenia. What a menu we'll have!
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