Get Grilling

Get Grilling

While the weather was not too cooperative or spending time outside with family and friends on Memorial Day weekend, warmer and sunnier days do lie ahead for the coming weekend and beyond. It is time to fire up the grill, fill your plate with its delights and summer bounty, and to add a glass or two of wine.

With upcoming summer weekends, including Father’s Day, there is the opportunity to impress your friends and family with terrific food and wine pairings, and City Vino has come up with four wines to help you do just that. 

Our first wine to pair with grilled goodness is the 2017 Carol Shelton Monga Zinfandel, from the Cucamonga Valley, in California. We are very excited to have this wine back in stock for you. Carol Shelton, awarded “Winemaker of the Year” five times, has quite the wine history, and produces some of our favorite Zinfandels. This wine has prominent fruit flavors, and spice that will pair beautifully with barbequed pork, burgers, and other meats. Consider serving this wine with a sauce that has some heat or sweetness, as these will marry well with the fruitiness of the wine. 

If your barbeque will feature beef, lamb chops, venison, or portobello mushrooms, we submit the 2018 Thorn-Clarke Wines Shotfire Shiraz, from the Barossa Valley, in Australia, for your pairing. Shiraz and Syrah are the same grape, and make a fabulous pairing for meats or meaty vegetables that have pepper rubbed on them. This wine has dark fruit notes, warm spices, and a nice hint of black pepper that will be harmonious with foods grilled where pepper has been applied liberally.

Next up in our pairing with grilled foods is the 2017 Two Mountain Hidden Horse Red, from the Yakima Valley, in Washington State. This is a red blend comprised of 52 percent Cab Sauvignon, 36 percent Merlot, 5 percent Cabernet Franc, 5 percent Syrah, and 2 percent Malbec. The wine features dark berries, cherries, hints of leather, and spice. This is a wine that will pair well with a well-marbled burger or steak. The fat in the meat will generously coat your mouth, making the tannins in the wine appear softer, all while doing this lovely dance together on your palate. Another suggested pairing for this wine is grilled pizza as the wine sings along with the slight char on the dough, fattiness of the cheese, and tartness of the tomato sauce.

The final grilled pairing is the 2019 Château Combel La Serre Le Pur Fruit du Causse Malbec Cahors France, from Cahors, in Southwest France. The wine is 100 percent Malbec ,with a palate of black cherry, blackberry, bramble, and multi-color plums. Aromatically, there is a slight aroma of violets which is characteristic of this grape, and there are also light herbal notes. Malbec is a terrific grape to pair with grilled duck breasts or legs, grilled lamb, or grilled pork, due to its lovely dark fruit flavors. 

If you are dining outside, you may want to put a light layer of ice in a bucket and gently set the red wine bottles on top of the ice. You will not want to fill the ice buckets, like you would for whites or rosés. Filling the ice buckets will overchill the red wine, which intensifies the tannins. The light layer of ice should keep the wine closer to 60 to 65 degrees, which is the ideal temperature.

Wishing you a summer full of grilling, good times, and great wines!  Happy Father’s Day from City Vino.

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