Surprising food match of the week: Glaetzer Amon-Ra Shiraz 2005 with Saskia Beer’s lacshinken and proscuitto with orange zest

This week in the Barossa one of my areas of focus has been food and wine matching.  So how thrilled was I to be let loose in  Saskia Beer’s kitchen (pictured) to talk which wines, which ingredients?

As you can see from the photo, I wasn’t the only one.  Joining me were winemakers Kaesler’s Reid Bosward, Ben Glaetzer of Glaetzer Wines, Troy Kalleske of Kalleske and Julie Ashmead, ex-Turkey Flat.  And funnily enough, they brought along a selection of their wines.

Spotting the fruit bowl, I assumed we’d be having a Riesling to kick off, but no.  The wines were 100% pure bred, full bodied Barossa reds and, much to my surprise, Glaetzer’s super-supple chocolate orange nuanced Amon-Ra Shiraz 2005 made a great partner for Beer’s lacshinken (loin) proscuitto with orange zest and parsley, also (leg) proscuitto with celery leaves & rosemary. 

So what’s the story?  First, Beer’s pork is sourced from rare breed Berkshire black pigs whose higher intra muscular fat content and shorter muscle fibres make for moist, tender melt in the mouth meat (especially the sashimi-like lacshinken). 

Second, though hardly restrained, contemporary full bodied Barossa reds are refined.  Without exception, all the wines I tasted this week were vibrant, thanks to a purity and freshness of fruit. 

As for Barossa tannins (once memorably described to me as once “like ground up tractors”), deliciously supple, they make for lithe wines which you don’t necessarily need to pair with a hunk of red meat .  In fact, next up we enjoyed gratinated marron (with Grenache), duck and pheasant. 

A myth-busting tasting.