Baked ham dinner party

[Scoop]

Not to beat a dead horse, but over the holidays my (Chinese)in-laws made a special Chinese ham preparation (phonetically: "Tee Pueng"), whereby the ham is cooked slowly for hours, mostly with steam, along with spices like cloves, star anise and sichuan peppercorns. It's unbelieveably tender and succulent, and it has a hint of sweetness as well.

There were a number of other dishes in the mix, so I went for a Riesling -- a Heyl zu Herrnsheim 1996 Niersteiner (I don't think it was the Pettental)Spaetlese. Compared with other 1997 Heyl Spaetlesen, this one had a distinctly sweet and rich (for a riesling) profile, with lots of viscosity, with just enough acidity to pull it off. But the pronounced tropical fruit and mineral notes played beautifully with the ham and the other many (and disparate) flavors found on the table. And my Chinese hosts, who are by no means oenophiles, raved about the "fantastic" wine.

Score another one for the noble Riesling!

Cheers,

Scoop