5 wine and drink pairings for roast pork belly (updated)

Pork belly has become a cheap and popular main course so what should you drink with it? It depends how you cook it. but it doesn’t have to be wine . . .

If it’s roasted you can basically go with the same kind of pairings as you would with any roast pork. For example 

*Medium-dry cider. It may not be the flashiest choice but it’s top of my list. Pork and cider go together like - well, pork and cider. Pear cider (perry) works well too, especially sparkling perry

*India Pale Ale, particularly heavily hopped American IPAs with a touch of sweetness. A brilliant match

*German riesling. Pork belly is quite fatty so the delicious sharpness of a Riesling really cuts through especially when the pork is served with apple or spiced as it is in this recipe. Alsace and Austrian Rieslings work well too

*Beaujolais and other Gamay-based reds. Bright and fruity. Just the job.

*Southern French Grenache-based reds such as Côtes du Rhône work well if you fancy a more full-bodied red.

If pork belly is stir-fried and given more of a sweet and sour treatment like this dish with ginger and plums I’d also go for a riesling  though maybe one from New Zealand or Washington State in the US. Or even a gewürztraminer (ginger works well with gewürz.)

With char siu (Chinese BBQ pork) I’d be more inclined to go for a pinot gris or a fruity red like a light grenache or garnacha.

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