When the warm weather arrives and the opportunities to spend time outdoors multiply, there is no muggy weather. Summer is that time of year when - even with the high temperatures - the urge to put the barbecue back into action, for lunch, dinner or a garden party. Once you have procured meat, fish and vegetables, however, one essential ingredient is missing: wine, an excellent companion for these convivial occasions.
Here's how to choose wine for the barbecue, depending on the ingredients used!
It's barbecue time: some rules for matching wine with barbecue
Choosing wine for a barbecue is no trivial matter. One could play it safe, bringing to the table an intense, full-bodied red for meat barbecues and a refreshing, aromatic white for fish and vegetables, but one would risk losing sight of the objective: finding a product that not only goes well with the ingredients, but also with the spirit of the event.
The barbecue, in fact, represents that convivial occasion that wants to abandon the luxury and sophistication typical of gourmet meals, to delight diners with liveliness, sociability and intense flavours. Also in line with the critical aspects of the season - first and foremost the high temperatures - drinkable and not too demanding labels are required, which lend themselves to being served slightly chilled. Make way, therefore, for reds that are not too complex, with tannins that are present but not intrusive, for whites that are soft and slightly acidic, and for graceful bubbles to lighten the palate from the primary aromas of the ingredients and the bitter aftertaste conferred by the cooking method.
Wine and grilled meat pairings
Just as the most imaginative and daring spirits are rewarded in the kitchen, grilling is also a convivial occasion that cannot be enclosed in rigid schemes. You can grill mushrooms, bruschetta, cheese and tofu, but the sovereign ingredient - at least according to tradition - remains meat. It matters little whether it is red meat, game or white meat: the important thing is to arrive at the appointment with a good dose of appetite and to match the ingredients with the right wine!
Grilled red meat
The most classic of barbecues - red meat - requires a wine with a good structure, but not overly cryptic, a product that conquers the palate with a certain grit, but is still pleasant to drink even in summer.
Svinando's recommendation falls on an excellent red barbecue wine, a Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, also considered an evergreen among wine lovers.
This elegant and noble Tuscan wine makes the most of the Sangiovese grapes used for vinification, which give the product a remarkable organoleptic richness. The nose is tickled by hints of ripe fruit and undergrowth, while the palate can enjoy ripe, but not too intrusive tannins that go well with pork sausages, beef chops, steaks and kebabs.
Wines for white meat
With white meat it is a different story. Its delicate, light and unobtrusive flavours mean that full-bodied, intense red wines are hardly suitable as accompaniments. However, there are many good alternatives, as in the case of 'Racemo Bianco' Frascati Superiore DOCG, an excellent white wine for barbecues.
An emblem of Latium oenological excellence, this wine conquers the senses of diners with a concentration of aromaticity, without forgetting that mineral touch that enriches the faintly pronounced hints of chicken and turkey. Structured, balanced and with a good alcohol content, Frascati is at home at garden parties thanks to its innate freshness.
Grilled fish, shellfish and crustaceans: which wine to choose?
For fish lovers, there are not only sophisticated seafront restaurants or lakeside venues. A good summer barbecue is enough to offer diners a wealth of options, all to be paired with a good bottle.
Sea and lake fish
Grilled fish is not all the same: there are varieties with lean or fatty flesh, tasty or delicate, saltwater or freshwater. This is why you should think carefully before deciding which wine to uncork and pour into your glass.
In the case of seafood with a not-too-fatty consistency - such as sole, sea bream, sea bass, anchovies, hake, swordfish and tuna - a Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, a DOC (in the true sense of the word) from the Marche region of Italy, straw yellow in colour mottled with green, whose main feature is its aromatic charge, is particularly appropriate. The aromas are those of yellow-fleshed fruit and acacia flowers, while on the palate this wine is soft and pleasantly mineral, fresh enough to suit both fish dishes and warm summer evenings.
When, on the other hand, one is dealing with tastier flesh with a fatty texture, as in the case of salmon and sardines, a wine with a more pronounced, but equally refreshing and lively aroma is required. The rosés of southern Italy are able to embody these requirements to perfection.
A Primitivo Rosato Salento IGP Notte Rossa 2023, for example, possesses all the requisites of a good rosé wine for barbecues, as it can perfectly hold its own against the brackish and slightly bitter flavours of grilled salmon, thanks to its gritty, fruity soul. In the glass it shows a jaunty coral pink colour, while on the nose it is recognisable by hints of red fruits, such as strawberry, raspberry and cherry, as well as hints of apple and pomegranate.
Slightly mineral, on the palate it is refreshing, structured and acidulous on the finish.
Finally, lake fish should not be forgotten. A glass of Lugana is just what is needed when trout, pike, chub and char fillets are placed on the grill. In fact, it is no coincidence that this product is called a 'lake wine'.
Produced predominantly in the wine-growing area of Lake Garda in northern Italy, a Lugana 'Ca' Perlar' DOC 2022 releases heady scents of exotic fruit, peach and apricot in the glass, while on the palate it conquers with the excellent harmony of its full flavour and drinkable spirit, traits that make it an excellent wine for grilled fish.
Crustaceans and molluscs
What generally characterises crustaceans and molluscs - although the flavours may vary from case to case - is the slightly sweetish aftertaste and the intense savouriness. The best wine to go with these ingredients is an effervescent white, preferably a Metodo Classico bubbly.
Franciacorta, for example, has the right acidity to suit the natural sweetness that characterises lobsters, prawns, shrimp, scampi, scallops, oysters, octopus and many other species. This Lombardy wine, structured and intense, is also able to hold up well to the bitterish nuance that the grill imparts to dishes. An interesting role is also played by its elegant hints of yellow-fleshed fruit, with citrus notes and hints of yeast, typical of the traditional method.
The best wine for grilled vegetables
While the wine world offers its connoisseurs numerous options to accompany barbecues of meat and fish, for some it might be more complex to find the right label when vegetables and mushrooms are roasting on the grill. In reality, even in this case there is plenty of choice!
Vegetables
Even in the case of vegetables, different varieties may require different pairings. Some vegetables have a sweeter taste, while others have bitter or herbaceous undertones. The ideal is to find the bottle that can cope with all these organoleptic traits. The answer comes from the Alpine region of Northern Italy, which offers consumers an irresistible aromatic white: Gewürztraminer. The secret of its success at a vegetable barbecue depends entirely on its smooth taste and the aromas of flowers and herbs. Savouring a 'Flora' Gewürztraminer Alto Adige DOC 2021, for example, it is easy to fall in love with its aromas of roses and exotic fruit, as well as the elegant and refreshing scents that tickle the palate.
Grilled mushrooms
There are those who believe that people who do not eat meat cannot feel comfortable at a barbecue. But this is not the case: with the growing awareness of animal welfare and environmental sustainability, more and more people are looking - daily or sporadically - for plant-based alternatives to meat. Besides the ever-present vegetables and plant-based products, mushrooms are also an excellent meal. Tasty and versatile, they look great on the grill in the form of a steak or skewer, especially if a good wine accompanies them. Their characteristic umami taste goes well with a drinkable red wine such as a 'FSM' Merlot Toscana IGT 2018, with its aromas of red fruits, such as sour cherries and raspberries, with light chocolate undertones. Soft and tasty, it is well suited to summer barbecues thanks to the refreshing sensations it gives the palate, in a sip that is full and persistent.