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Wines for Grilling Season

What To Drink Now

Wines for Grilling

Your back yard is open for business so it’s time to load up on wines for grilling season!

Grilling is one of the most highly flavorful of cooking techniques.  It generally ‘takes over’ most of the actual food that is being grilled. Once you add a sauce, your grilled meat, fish, or vegetable becomes a neutral part of the dish.

Pairing the perfect wine for grilled food becomes fairly simple when you boil it down to the basics. There are really only 2 factors to consider:

  1. Flavor of the grilling technique and/or sauce
  2. Texture of the food once it has been cooked

Pair Wine Based on Flavor

Pair with Flavor

Grilling transfers strong charcoal and burned bitter flavors to the food which often takes over as the primary flavor.  From a pairing standpoint, the bitterness is a good match with a wine that has substantial tannins from either long oak aging or considerable skin contact during winemaking.

Regardless of whether or not your grilled food is steak, chicken, fish, shellfish, or Vegetables, the best wine for grilled food that is heavily charred is a full bodied wine containing a bit of tannins (bitterness).

Full flavored, full bodied wines with some tannins can be found in the following suggestions.

 

Easy Winners More Adventurous
Cabernet Sauvignon – Bordeaux or California Aglianico – Southern Italy*
Malbec – Argentina Touriga Nacional- Portugal
Merlot – Bordeaux or California Montepulciano d’Abruzo – Italy
Nebbiolo – Barolo, Italy Negroamaro – Puglia, Italy*
Petite Sirah – Napa Valley, CA Petit Verdot – France, Spain, US, South Africa
Sangiovese – Chianti, Tuscany, IT Pinotage – South Africa
Syrah, Shiraz – Rhone Valley,France or Australia Primitivo – Puglia, Italy*
Tempranillo – Rioja, Spain Tannat – Southwest France, Uruguay
Zinfandel – Lodi, Sonoma, CA Monastrell – Spain

 

*These wines are part of our June 10, 2020 Virtual WIne Tastings!

Pair Wine with Grilled Foods’ Sauces

In addition to the strong flavor of the grill, you may want to enhance further by adding sauces.

Depending upon the base of the sauce, you may want to pair a wine that deliberately complements the sauce instead of the cooking technique.  Good pairing wines will have a strong component that matches the base component of the particular sauce and have enough body and tannins to stand up to the strong flavors that all of these possess.

Grill Sauces
Sauce Base Pairing Wine
Carolina BBQ Acid
  • Aglianico – Southern Italy
  • Baga – Portugal
  • Barbera – Piedmont, Italy
  • Mencía – Bierzo, Spain
  • Montepulciano d’Abruzo, Italy
  • Nebbiolo – Piemont, Italy
  • Pinot Noir – France, Oregon US
  • Syrah – Rhone Valley
  • Sangiovese – Tuscany, Italy
  • Gamay – Beaujolais, France
Kansas City, Memphis BBQ Sweet
  • Brachetto – Piedmont, Italy
  • Cariģnan – Languedoc, France
  • Dolcetto – Piedmont, Italy
  • Lambrusco – Emilia-Romagna, Italy
  • Malbec – Mendoza, Argentina
  • Valpolicella – Veneto, Italy
  • Zinfandel – Lodi, Sonoma, CA
  • Zweigelt – Austria
Mesquite BBQ, Texas BBQ Smoke
  • Aglianico – Southern Italy
  • Bordeaux Blend Reds- France, Napa Valley, CA
  • Cabernet Sauvignon – Bordeaux, FR, California
  • Mencía – Bierzo, Spain
  • Monastrell – Spain
  • Nebbiolo – Piedmont, Italy
  • Petite Sirah – Napa Valley, CA
Chipotle, Jamaican Jerk Spice
  • Cabernet Franc – Loire France
  • Nero d’Aola – Sicily, Italy
  • Agiorgitiko – Greece
  • Barbera – Piedmont, Italy
  • Blaufränkisch – Austria, Hungary
  • Bonarda – Argentina
  • Cabernet Franc – Loire France
  • Cariģnan – Languedoc, FR, Chile
  • Gewὒrztraminer – Alsace, FR, Alto Adige, IT
  • Riesling – Germany, Washington US, Australia

Pair Wine with the Grilled Foods’ Texture

Grilled Fish

Grilling increases the texture of the food.

The body of the wine needs to match the texture of the food after grilling in order to create a balanced match.

These wines will match the texture of the foods AFTER grilling:

Texture Food Pairing Wine
Light
  • Fish – White
  • Shellfish
  • Vegetables
  • Pinot Gris – Italy, Alsace FR, WA
  • Chardonnay – US, Burgundy FR
  • Old World Rosé
  • Riesling – Germany, Alsace FR
  • Cinsault – Rhone Valley FR
  • Cortese – Piedmont, IT
  • Gamay – Beaujolais FR
  • Pinot Noir – Burgundy FR, OR US
Medium
  • Chicken/Fowl
  • Pork – Lean
  • Steak Fish (Salmon, Swordfish)
  • Côtes du Rhône – Rhone Valley FR
  • Pinot Noir – Burgundy FR, OR US
  • Oaked Chardonnay – France, US
  • Cabernet Franc – Chinon France
  • Pinot Gris – Alsace France
  • Roussanne – Rhône Valley, FR
Firm
  • Beef
  • Sausage
  • Pork – Fatty
  • Lamb
  • Cabernet Sauvignon – France, US
  • Syrah, Shiraz – France, US, Australia
  • Merlot – France, US
  • Petit Verdot – France, US, Australia, Spain
  • Petite Sirah – US
  • Pinotage – South Africa
  • Touriga Nacional – Portugal
  • Tempranillo – Rioja Spain

Try matching your grilled foods with some of these suggestions this Summer.  You may find out that you prefer to match one of these components over the others consistently.  Mix and match for a new adventure. You can learn even more tips for pairing food and wine in our online courses.  You can also check out Carol’s teaching schedule at Cook Street if you are in the Denver area.

Food and Wine matching should be fun! So, experiment!