Bright ruby-red in color with enticing aromas of red berries, baking spices, vanilla and rose petals. The palate, with bright cherry, raspberry, cinnamon, and floral flavors, is classic Willamette Valley. Pinot Noir with duck is a no-brainer: Its silky smooth texture mimics the duck’s mouth-feel, while sufficient acidity balances out the fattiness. But this wine, with its pronounced spice-box undertones, is particularly well-suited to Greg’s Duck Satay, because those spice flavors pair so beautifully with the dish’s grilled peach flavors, and enhance the spicy bite of fresh ginger.
I view Pinot Noir as my “Swiss Army Knife” wine, because it is useful in so many food and wine pairing tasks. Besides being wonderfully fruity, soft in tannins, and often fairly light in body, I like to focus on three particular components which make Pinot Noir so food-friendly: acid, earth and spice. Acidity is useful in contrasting foods that are rich, oily, salty, fatty, or mildly spicy; earthiness pairs with the earthy and herbal flavors of mushrooms, onions, garlic, and herbs found in so many dishes; and Pinot’s inherent spiciness picks up on the cool-spice flavors such as allspice, coriander, cumin, ginger, coffee and mocha flavors featured in Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin cuisine. GRANT
Pairs With I am a Bird Lover I Eat Duck (Breast Satay) and Other Tails (Tales)
Price $22
Also pairs well with beef, soft cheeses, chicken, game & game birds, lamb, pork, salmon, tuna, veal
- Category Red Wine
- Varietal Pinot Noir
- Region Willamette Valley OR
I LOVE my braised chicken thighs. In fact, I’m trying a new recipe for them tomorrow night! This reminds me of a sausage dish I do with onions and grapes which is fantastic, can’t wait to try this version.
What an awesome list of ingredients. I can taste it just by reading the title in your first paragraph!
You can braise in a smoker also using foil to keep the moisture in. But then you need to smoke open aired for the first hour to not defeat the purpose of a smoker.
Awesome recipe, and beautiful photo. Pinned!
for this recipe. I’ve been wanting to re-create a cider glazed pork dish that was served to me in a restaurant and this gives me a good start with ingredients. A lot of briased dishes come out of my kitchen, mostly chicken, and I think my cast iron skillet is the perfect tool. Sears beautifully and those high sides snuggle all the ingredients together for some great flavored dishes. Thanks Greg.
Braising is one of my favorite ways to treat thighs. The gentle moist heat coaxes the collagen from them and it really enhances the sauce. I can imagine the sweet acidic bite of the sauce with the cider vinegar in there.
Cast Iron, all that sauce, cider vinegar. You’re after my heart. I think this would be yummy with pork chops. Can I say yummy without an eye roll?
I will take that order. And I will like it. What’s better than a warm skillet full of fall, anyway? Not much! Sounds and looks seriously delicious.
I really need to send this post to my mother — the woman who is infamous for turning even the tenderest of meats into chewy dry awful car wrecks. Love the sweet and savory in this dish…totally my kinda thing.
That looks absolutely delicious. I’ll be making some version of it soon!
I braise just about everything (the rest goes in the slow cooker) this time of year. But I haven’t done it with vinegar yet…or with you bossing me around either (for that matter). Hmmmm.…I kind of like the turn that our relationship is taking. 😉
looks just like my pan this week with my chicken… i did chicken in red wine vinegar and grapes! i love the tangy flavor the vinegar adds and the sauce with all that chicken juice! nice
great description of braising. I guess I have been braising meat very often but I could never explain it as poetic as you do! Great timing, now that it’s getting cooler, it’s the perfect time to braise more often. Thanks for bringing me back to the mood for it.:-)
This braised chicken looks incredible. I am not an avid braiser, but perhaps I should be. The color of the chicken is just perfection. I love the addition of raisins…I think this really adds an extra zing.