If matching the wine solely with (salty? spicy?) crackling, I still would not have chosen a chardonnay–unless perhaps a more minerally Chablis (or Champagne). Some of the other picks still hold–a cremant d’Alsace would be fun, but scratch the brachetto for serving with just crackling.

I will have to disagree with your friends on the Rieslings. There are many excellent, very full-bodied examples out there from the Alsace, Austria, and Germany, and a dry Riesling is a classic accompaniment to pork (including fatty cuts such as pork belly). Most Rieslings of this quality are not inexpensive though, and unfortunately at least in the US can be harder to locate as many people think Riesling is a sweet wine.

I dithered on a Gewurtztraminer but without knowing the seasoning on the pork crackling will pass on this as a match.

A dry hard cider as someone else mentioned would still be a good match. As would a nice dry fino or manzanilla sherry, well chilled, which can cope with both fat and salt in food. We drink a fair amount of sherry in our home and think it is an underappreciated wine.

As for the meaty portion of a roast porker, at home we would probably go to a red…depending on what else was being served, perhaps a nebbiolo or pinot noir.

“…when choosing the wines for the lechon dinner, our second choice was a pinot grigio which was mentioned by one of your readers. A chardonnay would have worked, but that would have been too easy. A riesling or sauvignon blanc would NOT have worked in our opinion because it does not have enough body to counter the saltiness of the lechon skin. “

There are some general guidelines that others have already mentioned, but as for a wine recommendation, I will first say that a good wine is one you enjoy–and you will only know what you enjoy by going out and tasting. Everyone’s tastes are different and evolve with exposure to more/different wines. For example, I for one am not a fan of chardonnays in general…that doesn’t make it a bad grape, but it does make me the wrong person to ask if a chard recommendation is what you’re looking for (on the other hand, I’m happy to talk about Bordeaux, Nebbiolos, pinot noirs!).

For the roast pork pairing in question, I would look at the seasoning and accompaniments as well as the meat. I would not recommend the Verdicchio myself if it were to be the sole wine for the dinner and you also served acidic salads. Nor would I suggest a typical Chardonnay. Some have mentioned dry Rieslings and I agree that they could serve quite well, as could Champagne or a cremant d’Alsace, or if you want something REALLY fun and likely new to guests, a Brachetto d’Acqui–I can tell you from experience that a Brachetto on the more robust side is an excellent pairing with roast pork and it will not break the bank.

There are many more things to drink than diet sodas, Marketman! :)