Barbecue and Wine, Texas Style Barbecue

Next in our series, we're heading south, to Texas, where we find some variation from the Kansas City style.

• First, the meat is usually smoked over mesquite wood rather than hickory. This is merely due to the local availability of each wood.  The mesquite adds a bit of a spice note to the meat not found in hickory.
• Second, the meat is smoked 'naked' meaning no sauce preparation is applied during the cooking process. The sauce is either served along side the meat, or ladled on just before serving.
• Third, the sauce itself is a tomato based sauce, similar to Kansas City sauce, but it tends to be less sweet and much spicier.    

 One thing I have learned over time is that hot spicy food preparations and oak aged wines are not very compatible.  So my first recommendation is to avoid oak aged wines.

Since beef is the main protein featured in Texas barbecue, and everything is bigger in Texas, I recommend big reds that are made to accentuate their fruit character.  Some Italian reds would fit this profile such as a Barbera D'Asti, but my tendency would be to focus on the 'fruit forward' styles of red wines predominantly made in the western and southern hemispheres. 

For brisket, a nice Zinfandel is a good match, or a California Central Coast blend, many which feature four to five different wines. For the ribs I am thinking a Petite Sirah or a substantial Shiraz from Australia. Also look for Chilean Carmenere in an unoaked style.  You need the substantial body to pair with the big flavors of the beef ribs.

The other predominant meat is a large smoked sausage, the character of which can vary greatly. Suffice it to say it will be spicy. Just how spicy only a taste will tell, so this is often a difficult pairing.  For this category I would recommend something with a hint of sweetness. The residual sugar in the wine will cool the fire of the spice in the sausage and the sauce itself. The challenge is to find a red wine with that profile.  If you have a well rounded wine shop in your area, you could ask for a late-harvest style of Cabernet.

I get some of these from South Africa, Australia and Chile; however the true masters of full body reds with a nice fruity finish are the Eastern Europeans, specifically the Romanians and the Hungarians.

Full bodied Hungarian Merlot

 The wines they make are well balanced, full of body and certainly on the sweet side but they are not widely distributed unless you are doing business with a specialty broker such as myself (wink wink)! They will cool the fire, but yet have the body and character to pair with the meat.

One other rather out of the box recommendation would be a German Late Harvest Spatlese, since one of the components in most Texas sausage is some pork and the heat is ever present. This type of wine would be a pleasant accompaniment particularly on a deck in the middle of summer.

The most important thing is to trust your own palate, as it will never lead you astray. For hints and tips on how to make Texas style barbecue visit my buddy, Bubba Q, over at  The Smokin' BBQ Pit.

My next stop on this virtual tour of barbecue and wine will be in Memphis, and if Elvis likes it you know it has to be good!

I welcome your questions and comments. Operators are standing by, so drop me a note at Pat The Wine Guy, or give me a call at the number on the right.

Barbecue and wine, Kansas City Style Barbecue

There are a ton of barbecue styles, so lets begin with the 800 pound gorilla of barbecue, Kansas City style.  This style of barbecue utilizes the widest variety of meats, paired with a sweet and savory sauce utilized in generous proportions.

The dominant factors in the regional style are the sauce and hickory smoked meats. This leads to a fairly wide selection of complimentary wines.

When enjoying beef ribs or brisket you could go directly to a big, oak-aged California Cabernet Sauvignon.  The wood influences will enhance each other and the bold fruit will enhance the texture and flavor of the beef, without being overpowered by the sauce application.

If you don't want to feature the wood influence in both wine and food, then a California Petite Syrah would be a good alternative.  This wine is not normally made with a distinct oak signature, if oak aged at all, however it brings big, bold fruit to the palate that will certainly meld well with the sauce and beef.

When pork is on the menu, a bit of subtlety is called for.  I like Australian Shiraz' and blends featuring Shiraz. Also, a good Chianti or Barbera D'Asti  provides a solid platform for the sauce and meat without over-powering  the senses.  Too big a wine will drown out the pork.  One could also make a case for Zinfandel and pork ribs, as long as the sauce is sweet enough to balance the spice of the Zinfandel.

Now for a bit of a twist, when it comes to chicken and turkey I strongly recommend red wine.  Keeping in mind the wood smoked meat and the sauce as dominant influences, nothing fits the bill better than a Pinot Noir, particularly those of California and Oregon. The combination of smoked turkey, KC sauce and Pinot Noir is a wonderful thing for the palate!  Other wines to try would be a Beaujolais, (not the Nouveau released in November, but a true Beaujolais), perhaps one of the Grand Cru Beaujolais, or a Rhone style blend from the Paso Robles region in California would also be worth a try.

As always, guidance is simply that: a guide, not a hard and fast rule, so, first and foremost let your palate tell you what is best for you.

For more insight on barbecue and preparations make sure to visit Bubba Q over at The Smokin' BBQ Pit, and for more on wine, whether you're interested in purchasing some beautiful boutique wines of the variety I have mentioned above, or just shootin' the breeze because you don't necessarily share my opinion, I can be reached at 308-338-0006 at Wineshippers, or you can shoot me an email.

"The difference between eating and dining is a glass of wine" , anonymous.