Monday, August 15, 2011

Ridge Barbecue - Zins, Blends & BBQ

A while ago myself, Peter, my Dad Rich, my sister Isabelle, and my friend Audry went to a Barbecue at Ridge Winery.  Ridge does great events for their wine club members.  Usually the events we go to are about their Monte Bello wine because that is the wine club we belong to, however this event was about all of their wine.
   This event was their big summer barbecue.  The winery was closed to anyone who did not have reservations.  We started out with 2009 Mikulaco Chardonnay.  This chardonnay has a fruit forward flavor.  It also have very strong legs.
   Then we had four red wines with four barbecue pairings.  All of the wines were mainly made of the Zinfandel grape.  The law says that a wine can be called Zin, or a Merlot, or any single varietal as long as at least 80% of the wine is that grape.  A Cabernet that you buy could only be 80% Cabernet and the other 20% could be any other grape.  The two wines do not have the word Zinfandel on the label. This because in some vintages there is less than 80% Zinfandel.
 Here are the pairings: 

1st pairing:  2009 Geyserville with North Carolina - BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich, Simple Slaw [that was on the sandwich]
      The pulled pork sandwich was great.  It was my Dad's and Peter's favorite of the food.  I will agree that the sandwich was delicious.  The aroma was very nice.  My only complaint is that I found it difficult to really appreciate the wine because I felt the barbecue sauce brought out the pepper in the wine so much that it was difficult to find the other flavors.  When tried without the food there was still the pepper flavor but the plum, and spice also came through.

2nd: 2006 Mazzoni Home Ranch with Kansas City - Style BBQ Baby Back Ribs, Molasses Baked Beams
    This wine was Audie, Peter, and my Dad's favorite wine.  The Mazzoni Home Ranch has subtle fruit and earth, while still  being flavorful.  This wine worked will with the ribs.  The ribs were great, the meat fell right off the bones.

3rd: 2007 Lytton Estate Zinfandel with Wine Country - BBQ Zinfandel Soaked Tri Tip, Grilled Heirloom Potato Salad w/ Point Reyes Blue Cheese
     I have never had potato salad with blue cheese.  I love cheese so I loved it.   The 2007 Lytton wine was my favorite.  There is a chance the reason it was my favorite is because for me the pairing brought out the best in both wine and food.

4th: 2008 York Creek Zinfandel and Texas - Uncle Jesse's Texas Style Beef Brisket, Corn Bread Pudding & "Tobacco" Sauce
    The corn bread pudding was amazing.  I love corn and sweets,  so I need to find a good recipe for corn bread pudding.  The best pairing was this course I felt.  Both food and wine had spice, but interesting of fitting for attention the food and wine shared the spot light.  That is what a great paring does.

Of the 5 wines 2 can be purchased outside of the winery, the 2009 Geyserville, and the 2008 York Creek Zinfandel.  I learned a lot about paring that day.  I have always believed that red wine with spicy food is a bad idea.  Spicy to me also went along with BBQ.  It was great for me to be able to expand my beliefs on pairing wine.  I will now say with BBQ a wine with some Zinfandel does go well sometimes.  However syrah and Indian food do not mix, but it is for another day.
    Part of the fun of wine is drinking it with food.  Part of the challenge with wine is knowing what to eat it with.  Comment below on any great pairings or pairings gone horrible wrong (I sure most of us have those stories) below.

1 Comments:

At July 2, 2018 at 6:35 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

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