The Porterhouse Pork Chop and Meiomi Pinot Noir

When guests see a 16-ounce pork chop on the menu, they instinctively reach for a big red. Cabernet. Malbec. Maybe a Syrah. And those are all fine choices. But the pairing our staff recommends most often might surprise you: Meiomi Pinot Noir.

The Dish

The Porterhouse Pork Chop is one of Chef Ron's most ambitious plates. The chop is cold-smoked first, which infuses a subtle smokiness deep into the meat without cooking it. Then it is pan-seared to develop a gorgeous crust, and finished with a porcini mushroom coating that adds earthiness and umami.

The sauce is where it gets truly indulgent: gorgonzola dolce (the sweet, creamy Italian blue cheese) melted into a porcini cream. It is rich, funky, savory, and utterly irresistible.

The Wine

Meiomi Pinot Noir from California is a richer style of Pinot. It is layered with bright cherry and strawberry fruit, but there is depth underneath: hints of mocha, brown spice, and a velvety texture from the oak aging. It sits in a beautiful middle ground between light and full-bodied.

The Harmony

Here is why this pairing works. The gorgonzola cream sauce needs a wine with enough acidity to cut through its richness, and Pinot Noir delivers that. But the wine cannot be too light or the smoky, porcini-crusted pork will overwhelm it. Meiomi's fuller body holds its own.

The cherry fruit in the wine plays off the natural sweetness of the pork. The mocha notes in the Pinot echo the earthy porcini crust. And the wine's soft tannins let the gorgonzola shine without clashing.

It is the kind of pairing where each sip of wine makes the next bite of pork better, and each bite makes the next sip better. That is the definition of a great pairing.

Ask for it by name. Your server will smile knowingly.