A recent beautiful weekend allowed my culinary side to shine; courtesy of my old reliable BBQ Grill. Yes, I am by no means a gourmet, but grilling is great fun, and most men (and women) can play a good chef if the grill is involved. Summer can be melt your shoes hot at times, but thankfully this day allowed for a perfect 85 degree high and a graceful arc that took many hours to turn day into night.
I fired up the grill, got the coals roasting, and took a quick peek down the stairs into the cellar to find a couple good wines to pair up with my fare. On the menu;
grilled corn on the cob, a fresh summer salad with mandarin oranges and roasted almonds, and the centerpiece, a juicy Kansas City Strip steak. Make of it what you like, but I am a big fan of bringing a couple wines to the table to taste with a nice dinner. One red and one white allows you to have more versatility to match up the wines with your meal and not sip on flavors that are just not meant to go together.
For tonight’s affair I couldn’t resist a nice Aussie Chardonnay that would go great with the citrus flavors in the salad and also handle the rich and buttery notes from the sweet corn on the cob. (Hint here – pick corn that isn’t huge kernels all the way to the end of the shucks because those ears are usually “overripe”, you want to see a few small kernels at the top of your choices). Winning great awards recently and being selected as a Vintages release by the LCBO, the 2006 Marquee Signature Chardonnay from Yarra Valley was a great hit with the corn and salad. The smart and balanced use of some oak aging and good acidic backbone brought out notes of lemon zest with the salad and creaminess with the corn; two different sides of the same wine, flexing its style to match the foods.
I must confess, I love steak, not quite sure exactly why… but I do. I usually don’t use steak sauce, I rarely do much with rubs or spices before grilling, and think there are only three items a good steak needs to turn out nicely; One/Two a bit of salt (sea salt is nice) and fresh cracked pepper before grilling and a nice red wine paired up for the meal. Just released to the general public, I had my eye on trying the 2006 Classy Zinfandel from Lake County, California with dinner and was well rewarded for my choice. The KC strip steak is not quite as lean as some other cuts, yet I love the way the fat content in this cut of steak cooks off into an almost caramelized exterior that locks in the juicy interior contents. Classy shows a great bouquet of rich raspberries, with spicy hints of cloves and dried roses, the wine has very smooth tannins and a medium/full body that allowed the fruit to shine, but with a less aggressive mouth feel than some other big reds (that I also happen to enjoy, aka King Cabernet). Final summary, the taste was a great match because it was also not “hot feeling” from having an uber high alcohol content (there are several 17% Zinfandel’s out on the market if you are looking around), try it with your next grill party and you will be impressed!
Ciao for now!
Christopher J. Cribb, CSW
GM - cjcribb@marquee.com
NOTES FROM THE CRIBB - A few musings about the world of fine wine & food from Christopher Cribb, GM / Managing Director for Marquee Selections. Great info on food and wine pairings, the best restaurants around and anything that would be considered worthwhile information to pass along! Follow Marquee and you will not be disappointed!
