Fiano Sannio 2015

Fiano Sannio 2015, Italy, 13.5%

(£9.50, Marks & Spencer)

This was my attempt to pay homage to the hog – a delightful Fiano to go with Jason Atherton’s wood-fired pork collar and crackling with sage and pine nut crumb on BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen.

Pork can be equally at home with red or white. We were quite excited to discover that this dish went brilliantly with Beaujolais – not an easy wine to match at the best of times, but wonderful to find such a lovely pairing in Beaujolais Nouveau week.

But it was the whites that went best – think of appley, pear flavours with the pork and you can’t go wrong. Pinot Gris is a good option, especially the New Zealand ones (Alsace can be a bit too rich). But this Fiano was a gorgeously easy-drinking partner to the pork, with herbal notes picking up on the sage and smoky hints to match the wood-fired cooking method.

Jason was enthusiastic. “I love a bit of Fiano!’ he commented, adding ‘Lovely, great: nice pear flavour, works really well with the port, great match.’ Show host Angela Hartnett added: ‘You don’t need to do red wine, as everyone imagines; it’s delicious with white wine.’

(6.5/10, Susie, Nov 2016)