BARBECUING IS WHAT Canadians do when there is no hockey to watch. Meat on a stick held over a fire, it shouldn’t get any more complicated than that, unless you want to talk about marinades, which is a modern twist involving wine, herbs and spices.
Just as you wouldn’t use a bottle of Château Lafite to marinate a steak, it’s overkill to use an expensive wine to drink with barbecued fare.
Grilling meat, fish or vegetables over charcoal, briquettes or even gas jets caramelizes the surface of the raw material, and those blackened bands from the metal bars are pure carbon. Add to this the smoke and the marinade, spice rub or basting sauce, and you have a mouthful of complex and conflicting flavours.
So, delicate, finely nuanced wines will get lost in this situation.What you need are wines that have upfront flavour, sweetness of fruit and soft tannins.
This style speaks mainly to New World wines, both red and white. But don’t ignore rosés, which are the perfect al fresco summer wine.
Now down to business.When it comes to choosing wines for the barbecues, if you’re spending more than $15 a bottle, you’ve just won the lottery.
Hamburgers: If simply prepared and served with mustard and relish, a medium- to full-bodied red made from Shiraz, Gamay or Malbec.Try Rigal the Original Malbec 2009 (Southwest France).
Deeply coloured with a blackberry nose; light, toasty oak and creamy blackberry flavour; soft tannins. ($11.95, LCBO #159178).
If you’re adding cheese and bacon, you’ll need something with a little more acidity: Domaine de Sérame Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (Languedoc).
This wine is dense purple in colour — always a sign of lots of flavour — with a smoky, cedar and black raspberry bouquet; it’s medium- to full-bodied with sweet, juicy blackcurrant fruit and a whisper of oak on the finish ($12.95, LCBO #35006).
Steak: Plain grilled with a spicy marinade: Serego Aligheri Possessioni Rosso 2007 (Veneto).
Dense purple-black colour with a bouquet of cedar, black cherry and blackcurrant; richly extracted and full on the palate with ripe fruit flavours of plum and black cherry ($14.95, LCBO #447326).
Ribs: For dry ribs try Trivento Tribu Syrah 2008 (Argentina), a minerally, blackberry nose and that characteristic Syrah medicinal note. It’s medium- to full-bodied with a fresh, sweet blackberry flavour and a warm alcoholic finish ($8.95, LCBO #145292).
Salmon: You’ll need good acidity to cleanse the palate, so try Robertson Winery Sauvignon Blanc (South Africa). Grassy, green bean and green plum bouquet, aromas that replicate as flavours on the palate; touch of residual sweetness in mid-palate ($10.75, LCBO #129684).
Grilled vegetables: A Sauvignon Blanc or Sauvignon blend: Long Flat Semillon Sauvignon 2008 (Australia), which is straw coloured with a nose of pear, cut grass and a waxy-floral note; medium-bodied, with fresh, lively citrus and pear flavours. ($10.95, LCBO #183715).