What's the best type of wine for a barbecue?

Beer is still seen as a more common pairing than wine with a barbecue but if you’re planning one this weekend - or barbecuing any other weekend this summer - and you prefer drinking wine you may well be wondering which one to choose.

After all the average barbie with its multiple marinades, sauces and salsas is an assault course for any wine. Which is why a lot of people give up and drink beer or pitcher cocktails.

What wine works with BBQ?

* A lot of barbecue marinades are sweet which tends to make lighter wines taste thin and sharp. But they may also be spicy so you don’t want a wine that’s too tannic or oaky. Sharply dressed salads will also accentuate oaky flavours

* Bear in mind that although people love full-bodied reds like malbec and shiraz they may warm up to an uncomfortable extent if it's a hot day (those beers and pitcher drinks are cold for a reason!) So either go for a lighter red or try and keep them somewhere cool.

* Not all barbecues are meaty. Think crisp white wines and rosé or light reds like pinot noir, Beaujolais or mencia if your centrepiece is fish or veggies.

Six top tips for creating a vegan or gluten-free barbecue

* And even if you are having a bit of a meatfest you might well be serving some dips on arrival so again think in terms of having a chilled white or rosé to hand. Magnums of rosé always go down well!

A middle-eastern inspired barbecue for eight

* Price is obviously a factor if you're catering for a crowd. Whites that represent good value are sauvignon blanc, Côtes de Gascogne and Picpoul de Pinet. Good red wine choices are, malbec, pinotage and shiraz.

* Pick up on the theme of the barbecue. If it's all American serve Californian wine, if it's a spicy Thai or Indian food think more in terms of aromatic whites such as riesling

* Rosé is also a surprisingly good option as you get stuck into the barbecue especially the darker, more intensely fruity rosés you find from countries such as Spain and Argentina. Even sparkling rosé (Cava rosado is a particularly good bargain) and there's always pink champagne if you're feeling more extravagant!

*Almost more critical than the colour of the wine, however, is how you serve it. Any wine - even red wine - benefits from being chilled or served cool in hot weather which is why it’s not worth opening a wine of any great age or complexity

Midweek barbecues

Of course now barbecuing is so easy many people grill several times a week and here slightly different guidelines apply.

If the meal is not what most people would regard as a barbecue but merely a conventional meal with the main course cooked over the grill you can serve a similar type of wine to the one you would normally serve though with a greater level of intensity to allow for the heightened flavours.

With a simply grilled fish served with herb butter, for example, you might drink a crisp dry white like a Sancerre. If it was seasoned with a spicy rub and cooked over coals you might prefer a zesty New Zealand, Chilean or South African Sauvignon Blanc.

And some fish taste better on the barbecue - here are my suggestions for wines with sardines for example.

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Middle image by Shaiith at shutterstock.com

The best pairings with red burgundy

As with white burgundy there’s a world of difference between a simple village burgundy and an elegant premier or grand cru - most of which need 5 years at the very least to show at their best but the dividing line when it comes to pairing wine with red burgundy is age.

Is it a light wine you’re dealing with or a more mature, intensely flavoured one? Duck is almost always a winner but here are some other options.

Basic red burgundy (Bourgogne rouge)

Best thought of as a companion for simple French meals, even picnics. My number one choice would be charcuterie - simple saucisson sec, paté, rillettes and terrines

Mild cheeses such as goats cheese and creamy but not too mature brie (but stinkier cheeses such as Epoisses will overwhelm them)

Seared tuna especially with an Asian accent such as a sesame crust

Chicken or rabbit with a creamy mustard sauce

Good quality youthful red burgundy 2-5 years old e.g. Marsannay, Mercurey and Santenay

You don’t want to overwhelm this with heavy sauces so think simply cooked rare meat rather than heavily charred or sauced. (You can also, of course, pair them with the dishes above)

Rack of lamb with a herb crust

Seared duck breast particularly accented with red fruits like cherries or blackberries

9 great wine matches for duck

Offal - liver, especially calves liver, kidneys and sweetbreads

Mushrooms - as with white burgundy mushroom risotto works particularly well but a mushroom sauce will frequently kick a pairing into touch. Think mushroom stroganoff too

Beetroot (particularly roast beetroot but avoid vinegar) Good with riper fruitier styles from warm vintages (like 2015 at the time of writing)

Peas - weirdly but they almost always enhance a pinot match

Light umami-rich broths such as you find in sukiyaki (see this very successful pairing)

Weightier, more serious red burgundies such as Nuits-Saint-Georges and Gevrey-Chambertin

A great foil for meats of all kinds - even richly sauced dishes like boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin

Feathered game - particularly with elegant wines such as Vosne-Romanée or Chambolle-Musigny: roast grouse, pheasant, partridge as well as high quality farmed meats such as guineafowl and goose

The best wine pairings for partridge

Lean red meat such as venison, fillet steak and lamb

Simply roasted white meats like rare breed roast pork, roast veal or a good roast chicken

Dishes with a sauce based on red burgundy such as coq au vin and boeuf bourguignon

Four favourite matches for coq au vin

Dishes with black truffles and porcini

Cheese - though I say this tentatively. They would definitely serve the best red burgundies with cheese in France and more traditional dining rooms in the UK but I personally think the wines struggle, particular with pungent washed rind cheeses such as L’ami de Chambertin and Epoisses. Even the official Burgundy wine site favours white wines with cheese!

See also

The best food pairings for pinot noir

9 fine pairings with white burgundy

photo © Stephanie Frey at shutterstock.com

The best food pairings for Zinfandel

Like most wines made from red grapes Zinfandel comes in a number of styles from light and juicy to blockbuster ‘killer’ zins but they have a common thread of ripe brambly fruit and in most cases a richness that makes them a good match for red meat and other hearty dishes, especially those with a hit of smoked chilli.

(It’s also used to make an off-dry style of rosé called white zinfandel - check out my post on rosé for that.

Here are my favourite pairings which also apply to Zin’s brother from another mother primitivo which comes from Southern Italy (though I’d probably go more for the Italian dishes with that).

What goes with Zinfandel

Barbecue, especially American barbecue

If it’s charred, sweet or spicy, most zins will work so think back ribs, brisket, spicy sausages - anything smoked or treated to a sweet or spicy marinade or rub. Recipes like this Texas-style BBQ beef brisket.

Turkey, especially Thanksgiving turkey

As you will know Thanksgiving and Christmas is not so much about the bird as the stuffing and the sides and a good zinfandel can take them all in its stride as I discovered a couple of years ago

Braises and stews

If it’s big and beefy and cooked long and slow - it’s one for zin. Think shortribs and ox cheek, even Mexican mole

‘Dirty’ burgers

Y’know, the kind piled up with cheese, bacon, onions, pickles, whatever. Zin can cope

Meaty pasta sauces and pasta bakes

I’m thinking particularly spaghetti (or tagliatelle) and meatballs or a beef shin ragu. Or anything with sausage in the sauce like this recipe for rigatoni with aubergine, sausage and zinfandel sauce (which needs a new picture, yes I know!). And a classic lasagna, obviously. Basically meat sauces with cooked tomato,

Meat-topped pizzas.

Maybe go for a slightly lighter style with these as it’s as much about the crust and the cheese. A bright gluggable zinfandel or primitivo

Baked, roast or stuffed aubergine/eggplant

Loves zin especially with baked dishes like a parmigiana

Portobello mushrooms

A good veggie option for zin (especially baked with garlic butter)

Black beans

Black bean soup, black bean chillis - actually any chilli con - or sin - carne

Cheese, especially blue cheese

Delicate goat cheeses apart zin is a brilliant all-rounder for a cheeseboard, especially with stronger cheeses, smoked cheese and blues. I particularly like it with Gorgonzola

Picture credits: shortribs by Andrei Iakhniuk, tagliatelle and meatballs by Gaus Alex at shutterstock.com

The best food pairings for Chianti Classico and other Tuscan sangiovese (updated)

There’s a lot of talk about how the wines of a region tend to match its food but that seems truer of Tuscany than almost anywhere else.

The traditional reds of the region - almost all based on sangiovese - work so effortlessly well that the locals barely bother with anything else, drinking them right through the meal (well up to the point they switch to vin santo …)

Because of its marked acidity, particularly when young, Chianti pairs brilliantly with tomato sauces, pizza and pasta bakes such as lasagne but it’s also a great wine with a simple grill or roast or even (gasp!) a burger. Here are my favourite pairings:

Inexpensive or youthful Chianti Classico

Paccheri con ragù chiantigiano e funghi porcini

Crostini, especially topped with mushrooms or chicken livers

Pasta with a meat or tomato sauce e.g. ragu bolognese, spaghetti and meatballs and even meatloaf

Baked pasta dishes such as lasagne

Pizza

Grilled cheese sandwiches

Bean or chickpea soup

Dishes with rosemary and fried sage

Dishes with salsa verde - even fish like this roast cod dish

Salumi especially salami with fennel

Pecorino cheese

Tuscan olive oils

Aged or ‘riserva’ Chianti Classico

Roast lamb with rosemary and garlic

Roast or braised veal, especially with mushrooms

Peposo - beef cooked with Chianti and pepper

Tuscan-style sausages and beans

Game, especially rabbit, pheasant and wild boar

Burgers (surprisingly, maybe but think of the tomatoes and cheese … )

Top level Gran Selezione Chianti Classico

Similar dishes to the above though the Italians would tend to go for steak such as a Bistecca alla Fiorentina. 

See also What type of food pairs with Brunello di Montalcino?

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