Table and Vines

Grilled steak….big red wine. This week we are featuring a lovely wine from the Douro region of Portugal. Vinhas de Xisto is a powerful wine, with jammy dark fruits, spice and earthiness. Firm tannins are balanced with some minerality to showcase the best characteristics of Douro wines.

There are two ways to go with this dish, compliment or contrast. Looking to choose a wine that is rich like the butter sauce, consider a Vouvray from the Loire Valley of France. Made from Chenin Blanc grapes, this wine is full bodied and has notes of ripe pear and honey and comes in a variety of dryness levels. I would choose something just off-dry for this recipe.

To contrast, pick something crisp, light and something that won’t overpower the fish. This week we are featuring a Prosecco from producer Syltbar as well as a Vinho Verde from Portuguese winery Arca Noval. Both wines provide some bubbly texture and freshness that pair great with this dish.

With roasted chicken I have a few go-to wines. This recipe is a little on the rich side, owing to the amount of chicken fat and butter in the sauce, so I want a wine that is full-bodied and rich as well. Chardonnay is a perfect choice and never disappoints.

This week we are featuring one of my favorite wines in the shop – Albert Bichot Chablis. The wine initially shows delicate aromas of flowers and lemon. Those characteristics flow into the palate of flavors in the wine along with green apple and limestone. The wine both lush and crisp, with a clean saline finish.

You might be tempted to select a beer with this recipe, but wines can work as well.

One of our featured wines is Izadi Rioja from the northern region of Spain. The wine is expressive with dark fruit, spice, licorice and even a little chocolate. Aged in both American and French oak barrels, there is a hint of smoke and prickly tannins to provide a long finish. Perfect for this recipe!

Asparagus can be a tough ingredient to pair with wine, but Sauvignon Blanc always seems to work.

One of our featured wines is a Marlborough, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from Barker Marque called ‘ranga.ranga’. It has the grassy, citrus notes typical of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc as well as some herbal notes and a clean mineral finish.

When summer cooking, especially on the grill, I don’t care much for wine rules. Part of what we remember about food and wine parings has just as much to do with the environment and place as the flavors.

I can see sitting outside with friends enjoying this recipe and serving a number of different drinks. A crisp lager, margarita or spritzer are all considerations.

I find that pairing wine with asparagus can be tricky but there are a few styles that work. Sauvignon Blanc is usually my first suggestion as the wine plays well with all types of flavors. My second choice is Riesling. Try The Boundary Breaks Riesling we have from Finger Lakes NY, this medium-dry wine is both ripe and acidic, providing balance. Showing notes of stone fruit, citrus and spice this wine will complement many dishes.

There are lots of choices to enjoy with this recipe, both beer and wine. Focusing on wine, a spicy red would be the best choice, pairing with both the smoke and heat of the dish. Consider a rioja or Zinfandel.

If you are going with a wine here, choose your favorite robust red (no Pinot Noir here). Cabernet, Merlot, Malbec and Zinfandel come to mind.

There are some wines that a perfect for grilling all summer. One of those is Primitivo from the heel of Italy’s boot. A close cousin to Zinfandel, these wines have great jammy flavors that compliment grilling rubs and BBQ sauces as well as the great smokey char of meat.