Aubergine (eggplant) and Zinfandel

This coming weekend sees the 16th annual festival of the Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP) in San Francisco. I went one year and it was an absolute blast - two great sheds filled with hundreds of enthusiasts enjoying this great belter of a red.

Zinfandel is believed to come originally from Croatia but is essentially the same variety as southern Italy’s Primitivo. And it does pair very well with the strong flavours of southern Italian food especially cooked tomatoes and aubergine/eggplant. It’s a great wine to drink with an aubergine bake or with pasta dishes like the Rigatoni with Aubergine, Sausage and Zinfandel sauce in Winelovers Kitchen. And I love matching it with a good moussaka or a lamb and aubergine stew

At the time of writing there were still tickets available for Thursday’s Good Eats and Zinfandel Pairing event which takes place from 6-9pm at the Fort Mason Center at the Herbst Pavilion where a selection of the 300 wineries that are exhibiting offer a dish to go with their wines. Click on the name of the event for details - featured dishes include Zinfandel braised wild boar with truffled polenta, mussels with chorizo and black beans, braised buffalo osso buco and BBQ ribs.

Image © Николай Григорьев - Fotolia.com

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