6 Great Summer BBQ Wines

Fourth of July, warm summer weather, and BBQ season are just around the corner. If you’re considering serving wine with BBQ, the wines below match up with a wide variety of BBQ foods. Here is our list of six great “go to wines” for the upcoming BBQ season.

REDS

Pinot Noir is a dry medium bodied wine with beautiful aromas and red fruit flavors, most often cherry or raspberry with hints of vanilla, spice, or mushroom earthiness. Pinot’s higher acid and lower tannins make it a versatile food wine. It pairs well with salmon, pork, chicken and mushrooms or roasted veggies.

Gamay is a fruit forward light to medium bodied wine with no tannin. It has floral aromas and expresses a variety of flavors from classic sour cherries to raspberry, strawberry, cranberry, raspberry, plum, and violets with hints of banana and earthiness. It pairs well with chicken, pork and seafood.

Malbec is a rich full-bodied fruit forward wine with a deep purple color. It is usually dry with medium tannins and little oak. Flavors range from classic blackberry and plum to black cherry and raspberry with hints of chocolate, violet and leather. It pairs well with dark lean meats including buffalo/bison burgers, steaks, pork, chicken legs and thighs, roasted veggies.

Remember that when it’s hot outside red wine is better chilled to 58-66 degrees.

WHITES-ROSES’-SPARKLING

Dry Rose’ can be made from most red grapes, most commonly Grenache, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese and Syrah. These light to medium bodied wines produce flavors according to the grape they are made from, ranging from cherry, strawberry, citrus, honeydew or rose petals. Rose’s pair with a wide variety of foods including chicken, salmon, pork, burgers and veggies.

Riesling is a fruity wine ranging from bone dry to very sweet with light body and high acid. Flavors range from green apple, citrus, and peach in drier Rieslings to mango, pineapple and honey in sweeter wines. They pair well with spicy hot or heavily seasoned food including Asian and Indian, as well as pork, crab, shrimp, chicken and sweet marinades and glazes.

Sparkling wine styles range from dry lean and zesty, light dry fruity and floral, sweet and perfumed, rich creamy toasty nutty. Again, lots of different flavor profiles from apple, pear, strawberry, cherry, citrus, bread dough, creamy or flowers. These wines pair well with chicken, salmon, sausage, shrimp, shellfish and veggies.

These wines are ok to serve at “fridge” temperature.

Other things to consider for serving wines outside our list pertain to two categories. First heavily seasoned foods are better paired with juicy, fruit forward red wines or off-dry fruity white wines. Secondly, sweet glazed or marinated foods are better paired with a fruitier white wine with a little more sweetness than the food.

Other “Wine and BBQ” matches include Syrah + Steak, Zinfandel + Burgers, Tempranillo + Sausage, Barbera + Pork, Chardonnay + Chicken, Pinot Gris + Salmon, Dry Rose’ + Veggie Skewers.

I hope this post will light your way to successful wine pairing at your next BBQ. Cheers!