Worthwhile advice about BBQ and Wine Pairing that will enhance your enjoyment of BBQ.
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Until I tried wine with BBQ, I always thought beer was the only compatible dancing partner up to the job. But, when wineries began asking us to cater their wine club events and employee parties with BBQ, I seriously started exploring wine and BBQ pairing. Recently, I refined my research by gathering over 50 bottles and a few friends from the wine business to sample them. I was very surprised by my research and am happy to share the results and tips with you.
When choosing wines to accompany your BBQ, you can easily find happy partners to your BBQ with inexpensive and mid priced wines. Save that bottle of 1995 Chateaux de La Dee Daa for a sedate occasion that features more subtle food to allow your wine to shine forth without distractions. Remember, we are talking about pairing wine with smoked pit style BBQ and not grilled meat cooked over an open flame. Grill friendly wines can be a little different than what works well with pit style BBQ. If you just landed on this web site, please click here http://www.bbqsmokehousecatering.com/pages/bbq.html to learn the difference between grilling and regional American BBQ.
The first rule to remember about wine and food pairing is important and must never, ever be broken. Commit it to memory and you will always succeed at wine and food pairing. The rule is: There are no rules! If you like to heat up 25 year old burgundy and dunk marshmallows in it, then go for it. The following are just my suggestions and the philosophy behind it. Some of you may be aware that the parent company of BBQ Smokehouse Catering is The Larry Vito Catering Company. In that branch of our business we cater high end events that specialize in multi course wine and food pairing dinners. Many of our clients are wineries that hire us to cater their wine club events or when they are hosting a group of wine buyers and want to really show off their wines. So hopefully, some of you will find worthwhile advice to enhance you enjoyment of BBQ. I always like to think about an old friend's advice when it comes to food and dining. The late MFK Fisher advised me to never lose site of the fact that it is the people at the table and not the food on the table that matter most. I would add that if you don’t find this to be true then amend your guest list accordingly.
SANGRIA
Let's start with a wine based beverage for people that don’t like wine. This brew originated in Spain and is called Sangria. For non wine lovers, mix up some Sangria with the idea in mind that the fruitier, the better! Sangria is the perfect blend to please everyone and it fits with BBQ like sauce on ribs!! But be careful. Don’t make it too strong because your guests will be drinking plenty of it. My earliest memory of drinking Sangria was that it went down like soda, but kicked like a mule! The basic ingredients of Sangria are a good red wine, brandy, fruit and ice. Here is a simple recipe that takes no time to fix and has a good balance of alcohol and fruit with a good acid backbone to stand up to a spicy rub and BBQ Sauce.
When you think you are finished, a good trick is to take a sip of Sangria and then a spoonful of your BBQ sauce and see if you like the combination. If not, then play with the acid and sugar components of the sauce to correct the flavor until the two can coexist happily in your mouth at the same time. If your new at this, you might need to make 2 pitchers. The first for adjusting and the second so you have some for your guests when they arrive and find you napping.
In general, I find that wines served with the big flavors of BBQ must be assertive. Finding a wine that will get along well with cloyingly sweet BBQ sauce that has a lot of molasses and liquid smoke in it is the most challenging. Many of the most common brands of bottled sauces, like Cattleman’s, fit this description. You will be better off making your own sauce or trying a specialty brand like Gates or another small regional producer. At BBQ Smokehouse & Catering, we have developed a sauce that does not contain molasses, is not overly sweet and has balanced flavors that work extremely well with wine.
This is a good time to mention that if the BBQ you are eating is prepared properly, it should not “need” sauce, Sauce should be an enhancement – not the main feature. I’ll lift a quote from our home page where I describe the qualities of good BBQ. “The best barbecue has a caramelized mahogany crust of crunchy goodness with incredible smoky~spicy flavors of its own. It doesn’t need to be drowned in sauce to imitate the taste of real barbecue. In fact, in some parts of the country, sauce is provided only for tourists. The locals eat it “naked”, or with just a dab of sauce for contrasting flavor.” The double think in the expression that the “secret's in the sauce”, is one way of saying that the meat is dependent on the BBQ Sauce for flavor because it doesn’t have enough flavor of its own because it wasn’t done right in the first place. Rant over. I hereby promise to only talk about wine for the rest of this page.
SPARKLING WINES
Practically any sparkler from California, Spain or Italy will be great with BBQ. Those tiny bubbles will scrub your palate and make each bite of Que taste like your first.
At the lower end of the price scale, you can pick up a bottle of Proseco at Trader Joe’s for around 5 bucks. Its light, floral, fruity and great at a Summer afternoon BBQ. Cold Duck and Asti Spumante are of the same ilk and price range. Blush sparkling wines are especially good with BBQ. Moving up in price, Cava from Freixenet is good for around $9.00 and Segura Vida (also from the Ferrer family) is an excellent value for about $14.00 and is a personal favorite. (Pedro and Beonia Ferrer, if you are reading this, please know how fondly I look back on my trip to Spain and your kind hospitality). Now you are moving into the price range of California sparkling wine as well. Whatever your budget is, there are a lot to choose from.
White Wine
Reds are my favorite with BBQ but some white wines will work as well, especially with Pulled Pork and Chicken. Look for lean fruity whites with bight steely flavors to cut through the rich and sometimes fatty flavors of BBQ. Fuggetabout most California Chard. Its usually too oakey and buttery. You are better off with a French Chablis style wine. The crisp, bright, flinty flavors will cut through the rich, tongue coating qualities of BBQ. Many of the more inexpensive whites at your local wine shop will fit the bill perfectly. Try:
Sauvignon Blanc
Chenin Blanc
Pinot Grigio
Muscadet
Verdichhiio
Pinot Gris
I have heard that Moscato from the Texas hill country is a dessert wine that’s just right with BBQ Chicken. When I try it I’ll let you know and if you try it first, email me with your impression. It's funny to think of wine coming from Texas, but I'll bet that Texans think its funny that Californians think they know what BBQ is. Touché!
Red Wine
Reds should be big, well balanced, smooth and not over the top in alcohol. I like red wines that have great fruit and balanced acidity. Luscious, ripe berry flavors and complex spice make an interesting counterpoint to BBQ. I find that wines over 14.5% are often “hot” and they open your taste buds up wide and then the heat from the spice becomes very prominent and overwhelms other flavors. Here are some recommendations from the tasting we did recently to gather information for this web page.
Syrah/ Shiraz – Same grape with a different name down under. A nice shiraz with silky, smoky tannins, red berry and ripe fruit flavors will work well with BBQ. Lately, from Sonoma County I’ve tried Benziger $23.00 and Roseblum as well as several Australian wines from Rosemount and Koonunmga Hill for $13.00.
Zins - The young spicy ones with lots of black pepper and raspberry work especially well with BBQ. Zin is also one of my favorite wines. Here in Sonoma County it's hard to find one you won’t like. I recently had a bottle of Alexander Valley’s Sin Zin. It's fairly priced at 14.00 and is a good one. Other favorites come from Harvest Moon, Pezzi King, Preston and Blackstone. The Old Vine Zin from St. Francis Vineyards is also a winner. Anything from the Dry Creek area should also be terrific!
Cote Du Rhone is another good choice in the medium price range. Its smooth, well behaved tannins and smoky finish are just right with pulled pork and pork ribs.
Rioja is a great choice for BBQ. This Spanish red wine is spicy and fruity. Its bold, fresh flavors can really stand up to the assertive flavors of BBQ. Beef brisket, beef ribs and all grilled beef will work extremely well with this wine.
Riojas are intended to be drunk at a coolish temperature. 58 to 65 degrees is a good range. Try chilling it on ice or in the refrigerator. Use a food thermometer to get it right the first time and give you a reference point for the future. By chilling the wine you will disarm rough tannins and volatile alcohol.
So many wines and so little time. Here is a list of other varietals to experiment with.
Petite Syrah
Barbara
Chianti
Barbera and Chianti are also best when slightly chilled.
Where to Buy Your Wine
If you live here in Santa Rosa, a great place to shop is the Bottle Barn or Sebastopol’s Wine Emporium. They always have good deals and know what they are talking about.
If you live anywhere in Wine Country, its always fun to visit the wineries themselves. If you don’t and you feel lost in the liquor store or are disappointed by tips from no nothing salespeople (I am remembering some misinformation recently volunteered by a sales person in Pittsburgh, PA.) you can join a wine club at one of our Sonoma wineries. They can ship their annual vintages to you for a discounted price. Plus, you will have first pick of limited releases and you can brag to your friends about it. (It depends what state you live in for this to be a viable option).
Whatever you choose to drink with your BBQ, just have fun and enjoy the folks gathered around your table. BBQ and beverages are the vehicle, but good times with friends and family are the destination. For me, that’s what its all about!
Larry Vito's BBQ Smokehouse Catering, 6811 Laguna Park Way, Sebastopol, California 95472, 707-575-3277