Crispy Pork with Black Vinegar Sauce
~ 黒醋肉片 ／ Hei Cu Rou Pian ~
2019 Ossimoro — Pietraventosa ／ Gioia del Colle, Puglia
Pork belly is fried until the exterior becomes crackling and aromatic, while the inside stays tender and yielding.
It is then glazed with a dense black-vinegar sauce—round, savory, gently sweet, and touched with caramelized depth.
The first impression is a mellow, layered acidity;
then slowly, sweetness rises, followed by a faint, toasty bitterness that completes the arc.
Five tastes intertwine, not as contrast, but as an organic harmony.
To receive this richness, Ossimoro from Pietraventosa:
a wine whose very name means “paradox.”
From the limestone hills of Gioia del Colle, Primitivo (75%) brings dark, sun-ripe fruit and generosity, while Aglianico (25%) contributes structure, tension, and lift.
Fermented in stainless steel and aged in French oak, the wine layers blackberry, plum, and a gentle smokiness—a quiet echo of the dish’s black-vinegar depth.
The sweetness of ripe fruit aligns with the glaze, deepening the pork’s umami and softening its edges, while Aglianico’s firm acidity and lightly bitter tannins clean and re-shape the palate.
Sweetness and freshness, plushness and restraint—the paradox becomes balance.
Then comes texture:
the crisp shell of fried pork, the yielding fat beneath, and the wine’s silky fruit and suede-like tannins meeting at the same temperature of pleasure.
As the meal continues, black vinegar and fruit begin to resonate, casting shafts of brightness through the dish’s richness.
Tracing the five tastes reveals their orchestration:
sweetness from sugar and soy, acidity from black vinegar, umami from pork and frying aromas, a whisper of caramelized bitterness, and salt as the quiet foundation—conducted by Ossimoro’s fruit and acid.
Each sip rearranges the hierarchy, until wine and sauce melt into one final chord.
Sun-warmed Puglia and the contemplative depth of Ji-Cube’s cuisine meet at the same table.
Passion and stillness, sweetness and tension—a “beautiful contradiction” that feels inevitable once tasted.
Ji-Cube
Sommelier Kiyoshi Yoshioka
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