The BBQ Report

A wine expert I am not, let me assure you. I buy whatever’s on sale with the coolest looking label. (I’m hip enough to stay away from the box-o-wine). However, I often have guests attend my BBQ’s (which I do know a thing or two about) and I recently read an article in The Seattle Times that makes selecting an appropriate wine far less painful.

For beef and other richly favored BBQ dishes we’re talking red wine. Even I understand that much. But in this case we are looking for a really full flavored wine that can stand up to the strong flavors of grilled meat. The stronger the better.

The second factor to look for is that the wine be cheap. I’m down with that, it certainly fits into my criteria. Especially since I’ll probably be drinking a beer anyhow. However, there’s another reason that inexpensive red wines are the prefered option here. It again come back to that bold flavor we are looking for. One of the factors that makes one particular bottle of wine more expensive than the other is the length of aging and type of cask the wines are stored in. A longer aging process and more sophisticated types of wood casks means a more delicate flavor. Cheap wines are cheap because they ignore such luxeries, and thus retain a stronger more resilient flavor. My guess is that they make them in bath tubs.

Acidity is the final factor. The acid in a good barbecue red cuts through the fat in the meat while providing lift to the smoke and spices and flavorings in the sauce. Fortunately this is another trait easy to find in inexpensive wines.

Yea, yea. So what do I buy. The author’s top pick? Carchelo 2004 Monastrell ($8) a Spanish red which according to the article “offers big, chunky fruits laced with spice, clove, mint and smoked ham… with an extraordinary finish”. More picks and details on selecting the perfect wine for your next BBQ can be found in the article.

Read the article