Going beyond the red connection
Many factors to consider when selecting wines for the upcoming barbecue season
Grill season is heating up, which has prompted the first few emails wondering about wine suggestions for upcoming barbecues. Like most food and wine matching activities, there isn’t a stock answer.
Certainly the red wine and red meat connection is well established, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Zinfandel playing the leading roles as classic matches for steak.
But those pairings only work if you enjoy that style of wine and that style of food. That’s why many people find selecting a wine to accommodate everyone’s tastes to be a tricky task. Depending on your audience, you can approach buying barbecue wines in a number of ways. There are successful brands that were built to be ideal wine pairings for meat lovers.
For instance, Australian winemaker Hamish McGowan created Angus the Bull Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 in a bid to create the perfect red wine to pair with beef. The style of Cabernet is made to be hearty enough to cut through the richness of meat without overpowering its delicate flavour.
Another Aussie vintner and avid hunter, Matt Fowles, was inspired more recently to launch two cheeky meat-friendly wine brands called Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch and Are You Game? These are purpose-built wines that would certainly stimulate conversation among guests. In both cases, the winemaking teams look to create flavourful wines with robust structure to work with the sinew of game meats.
Another option I’d consider is looking to wines made in countries with strong traditions for grilling over an open flame. Asados in Argentina and braais in South Africa aren’t casual affairs; they’re a major source of national pride. Consequently, I look to bold red wines from either country as being solid options to share with flame-grilled offerings. Barring that, you can opt to grab bottles of the wines recommended this week from Saturday’s Vintages release. The rosé is a lovely example of the concentrated yet refreshing style popularized by producers in the South of France, while the plush and layered Cabernet boasts ripe and spicy flavours that are the hallmarks of a solid match for grilled meat. Christopher Waters is the co-founder and editor of Vines, a national consumer wine magazine.