Charcuterie and Wine

On a trip to Austria last February with a friend of mine who imports wine from that part of the world, I was treated to an eye-opening experience while visiting a Biodynamic winery.

It was a very cold day (the whole trip was absolutely bone chilling but worth it) and we arrived at the home of Hans Wimmer-Czerny and his family. As we did at most wineries, we sat down and started tasting his wines and warming up. At this winery we were seated at his kitchen table, and Hans and his wife started to place out charcuterie for us to have with the wines. I remember being quite taken with one particular charcuterie dish which I found out was essentially Cracklin’s, garlic and rendered pig fat all mixed together into a very tasty, albeit not absolutely heart healthy dip. There were also country terrines and prosciutto style ham slices.

The wines from Wimmer Czerny (which set the bar for Austrian wines from the region in my mind) were all perfect pairings with these bites of charcuterie. The rich, cured (salted) meats screamed for something refreshing, zesty and mineral driven to cleanse the palate. His wines, and generally speaking the Gruner Veltliner wines from many regions in Austria have those qualities in spades. The great ones are all astoundingly racy and mineral driven with a core of power that helps them stand up to the intensity of charcuterie, and I’ve found charcuterie and brown bread with picked vegetables to be a staple at many restaurants and homes I visited in Austria.

That’s when Hans asked us if we wanted to go see the Mangalista Pigs that he was raising. This is a variety that originated in Hungary and is somewhat prominent in Austria. I looked around the table and began to realize the charcuterie and wine pairings we were experiencing were more profound than I had originally thought.

As good as any of the Gruner Veltliners from Austria that we tasted on that trip would have been, these particular wines had more of a connection to the food than being simply a good pairing. These wines and charcuterie I discovered had all been “raised” on this biodynamic estate. I had always known this to be a principle of biodynamic farming: Energy is put into creating a healthy farm and all the produce and creatures on the farm get healthier and as they put energy back into the farm in one form or another, it creates an upward spiral of better health and generally better quality products. I had always thought of this as being a wine-centric or produce-centric regimen and while this can work out great for wines and vegetables, I began to see that the farmers themselves were reaping benefits of this lifestyle. They were eating healthier food and animals and in turn they should get healthier and then be able to put more back into the farm.

Andy Chabot
Director of Food & Beverage

On a trip to Austria last February with a friend of mine who imports wine from that part of the world, I was treated to an eye-opening experience while visiting a Biodynamic winery.

It was a very cold day (the whole trip was absolutely bone chilling but worth it) and we arrived at the home of Hans Wimmer-Czerny and his family. As we did at most wineries, we sat down and started tasting his wines and warming up. At this winery we were seated at his kitchen table, and Hans and his wife started to place out charcuterie for us to have with the wines. I remember being quite taken with one particular charcuterie dish which I found out was essentially Cracklin’s, garlic and rendered pig fat all mixed together into a very tasty, albeit not absolutely heart healthy dip. There were also country terrines and prosciutto style ham slices.

The wines from Wimmer Czerny (which set the bar for Austrian wines from the region in my mind) were all perfect pairings with these bites of charcuterie. The rich, cured (salted) meats screamed for something refreshing, zesty and mineral driven to cleanse the palate. His wines, and generally speaking the Gruner Veltliner wines from many regions in Austria have those qualities in spades. The great ones are all astoundingly racy and mineral driven with a core of power that helps them stand up to the intensity of charcuterie, and I’ve found charcuterie and brown bread with picked vegetables to be a staple at many restaurants and homes I visited in Austria.

That’s when Hans asked us if we wanted to go see the Mangalista Pigs that he was raising. This is a variety that originated in Hungary and is somewhat prominent in Austria. I looked around the table and began to realize the charcuterie and wine pairings we were experiencing were more profound than I had originally thought.

As good as any of the Gruner Veltliners from Austria that we tasted on that trip would have been, these particular wines had more of a connection to the food than being simply a good pairing. These wines and charcuterie I discovered had all been “raised” on this biodynamic estate. I had always known this to be a principle of biodynamic farming: Energy is put into creating a healthy farm and all the produce and creatures on the farm get healthier and as they put energy back into the farm in one form or another, it creates an upward spiral of better health and generally better quality products. I had always thought of this as being a wine-centric or produce-centric regimen and while this can work out great for wines and vegetables, I began to see that the farmers themselves were reaping benefits of this lifestyle. They were eating healthier food and animals and in turn they should get healthier and then be able to put more back into the farm.

Andy Chabot
Director of Food & Beverage

On a trip to Austria last February with a friend of mine who imports wine from that part of the world, I was treated to an eye-opening experience while visiting a Biodynamic winery.

It was a very cold day (the whole trip was absolutely bone chilling but worth it) and we arrived at the home of Hans Wimmer-Czerny and his family. As we did at most wineries, we sat down and started tasting his wines and warming up. At this winery we were seated at his kitchen table, and Hans and his wife started to place out charcuterie for us to have with the wines. I remember being quite taken with one particular charcuterie dish which I found out was essentially Cracklin’s, garlic and rendered pig fat all mixed together into a very tasty, albeit not absolutely heart healthy dip. There were also country terrines and prosciutto style ham slices.

The wines from Wimmer Czerny (which set the bar for Austrian wines from the region in my mind) were all perfect pairings with these bites of charcuterie. The rich, cured (salted) meats screamed for something refreshing, zesty and mineral driven to cleanse the palate. His wines, and generally speaking the Gruner Veltliner wines from many regions in Austria have those qualities in spades. The great ones are all astoundingly racy and mineral driven with a core of power that helps them stand up to the intensity of charcuterie, and I’ve found charcuterie and brown bread with picked vegetables to be a staple at many restaurants and homes I visited in Austria.

That’s when Hans asked us if we wanted to go see the Mangalista Pigs that he was raising. This is a variety that originated in Hungary and is somewhat prominent in Austria. I looked around the table and began to realize the charcuterie and wine pairings we were experiencing were more profound than I had originally thought.

As good as any of the Gruner Veltliners from Austria that we tasted on that trip would have been, these particular wines had more of a connection to the food than being simply a good pairing. These wines and charcuterie I discovered had all been “raised” on this biodynamic estate. I had always known this to be a principle of biodynamic farming: Energy is put into creating a healthy farm and all the produce and creatures on the farm get healthier and as they put energy back into the farm in one form or another, it creates an upward spiral of better health and generally better quality products. I had always thought of this as being a wine-centric or produce-centric regimen and while this can work out great for wines and vegetables, I began to see that the farmers themselves were reaping benefits of this lifestyle. They were eating healthier food and animals and in turn they should get healthier and then be able to put more back into the farm.

Andy Chabot
Director of Food & Beverage