Grilling and Wine

With the dog days of summer heavy upon us, I have been asked about paring wine with grilled meats a lot lately. While an experienced Sommelier in a restaurant may have a very specific pairing plan of action, I want to keep it much more light hearted. Instead of a definitive answer, instead I will give a couple guidelines.  

The first and most important one is to have fun and do not try find the "perfect" pairing. Find one that you like and enjoy.

The next suggestion is to think about the intensity of the flavors. A light food will fade against an intensly flavored wine and vice versa. It would be a shame to miss out on great flavors because one overpowers the other. An easy rule of thumb is to drink wine and food that come from the same region, e.g. if the dish is inspired by Tuscan cuisine, than try a Chianti.

Most of the time when I think of grilling I think BBQ or grilled meats. Smoky flavors that develop along with the char coming from direct flames tend to deal well with big fruity wines. A good option would be Sin Zin. This is a big fruit bomb. The fruity flavors are great with the dark flavors from the bbq sauce and the char from steaks.

Another good choice would be Malbec. Try Michel Torino's Don David Malbec. The high level of acidity, heavy body, and dark fruit characteristics are also a good match with charred meats.

If you are doing Pork or Chicken without the sauce, try a Pinot Noir from Sonoma or the central coast. The light body and bright red fruit balance each other well.

Say what you have on the grill used to swim. If you are not doing a sauce then stay light and crisp like Chateau St. Michelle Horse Heaven Hills Sauvignon Blanc. Acidic, light bodied, full of fresh lime and apricot flavors, this is a great seafood wine.

If you are going to blacken fish or (even light meats) then try a Rias Baixas, which is known for going really well with shellfish. The La Cana bottling is light to medium bodied and full of peach and apricot flavors.

Regardless of what you have, if you are going to put it in a big butter sauce like hollandaise (yum), an oaky buttery chardonnay from Napa like White Oak will be fantastic. You can't go wrong mixing butter with butter, right?

Are your vegetables going to be getting the treatment on the grill? A dry to off-dry rose will fit the bill. The nice red fruit of the Etude Rose of Pinot Noir will play against the char and the clean nature won't mask any of the flavors the veggies will pick up.

There are a lot of fun options out there. Take your time and experiment with different varietals and regions. Try the same food with two diferent offerings and see which one you like best. In a little while, you will start to notice wines and foods that you like together or think work well together and that is always the best pairing. What you like.

P.S.  Also, remember to write things down. I can't tell you how many great pairings or wines I have tried that I cannot remember three days later... I may drink too much.