In the trust that Indian relief comes to summer this year, what is it exactly that makes good barbecue wine?

Barbecue and meat could almost be one word, they’re so synonymous. Sausages, chicken drumsticks and spicy wings, beef steak and pork chops, burgers.  Everything meaty imaginable.  However, even on the meat front, it’s the sauces and marinades that will influence your choice of wines. These often have a tomato or soy sauce base, so there are herbier or spicier flavours;  sweet and sour, sweet and spicy, smoky and sweet. Curried, Cajun and Caribbean rubs. The bottom line is big flavours. And there’s no getting away from the fact that big chunks of red meat beg for big chunky red wines with plenty of sweet fruit to complement those sauces and rubs.

But it’s not that simple. Delicate fish partly-steamed, partly-barbecued in foil, with a little basil, lemon, lemongrass, or white wine demand something without overt tannins and not so weighty. The tradition of white wine with fishy things is no bad one, but here something weightier rather than zestier works well, so more full-bodied and a little less acidity than sauvignon blanc for example.

Red with fish can work well too, and the thing to avoid is tannin, which makes fish taste metallic.  Pinot noir is the classic grape variety for fish, and it suits a brief chill-zone in the fridge. Cooling down reds a little accentuates the fruit and the acidity and makes any excesses of alcohol a little less noticeable, which is a good thing for the wine, but maybe not for anyone keeping tabs on their alcohol intake. Chilling down any red too much can exaggerate the tannins, and make the acidity edgy, rather than fresh, so just take the temperature down to 15/16°C from 18°/19°C. 

Regardless of what goes on the barbie, an attractive element of smokiness is part of the game. Indeed aromatic wood chips can be added to hot coals specifically to impart gentle smokiness to the food. That’s a whole another world though – matching your wood chips with your barbecue foods – oak wood for beef, apple wood for chicken and fish, maybe.  Smokiness is fine for red wines, a touch of oak during winemaking usually adds an aromatic smoky note to the wine anyway. For whites though, the idea to bulk up the body of the wine is still the one to follow.

Barbecue – reds
M&S:  Domino de Plata cabernet sauvignon 2006, £7.49, Argentina. Smooth, succulent, sweet fruit.
Majestic:  Tinto da Anfora 2006, Portugal, Save 20% on Portuguese wines – £4,99  Juicy red berries; great quaffing, but watch the alcohol.
Majestic: Pirie Estate Pinot noir 2005, Tasmania. £14.99 each when you buy two bottles (chilled a little)

Barbecue – whites
Stone, Vine and Sun: Domaine du Grand Arc, Corbières Blanc, Veillée d’Equinoxe, 2007 France, £7.50. good weight with fresh-baked apples and dried honey notes.
Waitrose: La Monacesa Verdicchio di Matelica 2006, Italy. £8.39. Proper verdicchio with real character and weight, rich and smooth.

One of the latest trends has become to speak about chocolate in wine terms: variety of cocoa bean, origin of bean, how it is grown, climate, soil, terroir, and quality differentials with all of these. Sara Jayne Stanes, director of the Academy of Culinary Arts, and chairman of the Academy of Chocolate said: “There are three major varieties of bean, with nearly 300 hybrids. Cocoa beans are full of tannins, fruits, spices, herbs, grassy, woody and smoky flavours.”  

For serious, fine, dark chocolate, Jo Stewart, chocolate buyer at Harrods said: “The trend is single estate chocolate, and some of the dark, bitter chocolates go well with wine. Peruvian chocolate tastes different from other parts of South America. It is bitter, but erring on the side of fruity, and it’s the fruitiness that goes with wine.”  

Savoury dishes

Bernd Flemming

Chocolate in savoury dishes is less challenging than sweet dishes, as it should not make the dish sweet. Bernd Flemming, who gained his Michelin star at the Restaurant Français in Frankfurt and now runs a food development consultancy said: “The cocoa has a special flavour. We always think chocolate is something to do with sweetness but cocoa is a spice like vanilla, or chilli. We use it as a spice, for example in the Mexican mole dish.  And like a spice, used in the quantities of a spice or condiment, chocolate balances the taste between the sweet ingredients and spicy ingredients. It doesn’t really change the texture.” 

At a recent wine and chocolate evening, Anne Tupker MW, of Bouquet Wines, paired a 2002 St Joseph with Roe deer with Diva chocolate sauce. She said: “The slight gaminess of the syrah plus the richness and acidity of the wine went well with the venison and with the richness of the sauce.” She added “the richness chocolate gives to the sauce calls for a wine that is fruity, concentrated and with some good acid bite but fairly light, smooth-textured tannin.”

Desserts and petits fours

For sweet dishes, the sweetness has to be at the same level. Tupker said: “A 1977 Graham’s port with with a dark chocolate and praline dessert went down a treat. A five or six puttonyos Tokaji, or a trockenbeerenauslese from Germany or Austria would also work.” 

Sarah-Jane Evans MW, one of the founders of the Academy of Chocolate, reiterated the superior chocolate designation for wine pairing opportunities.  She said “The tastings we do are with bars, not prepared dishes, which makes a difference.  I have found that the fortified wines can work.  If you have something rich and sweet, you need something hefty in alcohol. Young Maury with dark chocolate gives a luscious, lovely, red fruited character, with aromatic fruitiness an extra complement.”

Ripening grenache in Roussillon

Maury, along with Banyuls and Rivesaltes are the sweet, fortified red, vins doux naturels wines of Roussillon in the south of France, made from grenache. The style is either young primary fruit focused, with rasp-, black- and blueberry flavours, which works well with creamy sweet and silky-textured truffles, such as Prestat’s Dark Chocolate Marc de Champagne Truffles, or a more oxidative style, where complex aromas of coffee, chocolate, caramel, walnuts, dried figs and prunes pair well with nuttier desserts and bars of 70%+ cocoa.  

A youthful LBV (late bottled vintage) port such at Taylor’s is a good alternative, with vibrant black cherry, bramble and raspberry fruits to accompany and lift the concentration of the dark chocolate.  Flemming said “I like a chocolate terrine with port wine and figs, and I’d serve a port with it. Cook the figs in port, with a hint of chilli, melted dark chocolate, crème fraiche, eggs and butter. On a biscuit and pistachio base, add the fig and port mixture with layers of chocolate. Warm the remaining port with chocolate to thicken.”

Gearoid Devaney, head sommelier at one-Michelin star London restaurant Tom Aikens said “with [chef] Tom there are always more flavours, for example chocolate fondant with grapefruit. There are always twists in the tail to deal with. I choose wines according to the richness and texture. Tokaji, for example from Istvan Szepsy, works better than French [Sauternes]. I’m using a vins doux naturel Rasteau from Domaine Romero because it has a good bit of acidity, which plays with the sharpness of the grapefruit.” Devaney treats each dessert on its own merit, saying he loves looking at how you can play with the palate.  Italy’s passito wines might feature, or an older Malmsey Madeira from Henriques and Henriques. He said: “you have that heat from the alcohol, but chill it a little, and serve a 15 year old with petit fours.”

Conclusion

The sweet, gamey, concentrated fruit and silky tannins of dry syrah/shiraz was may complement the rich texture of a chocolate-influenced savoury dish, but it seems the fortified wines come into their own for dessert. Red fruits and spiciness are found in both dark chocolate and wine. As sweetness increases, or the chocolate is combined with other complexing flavours, better matches may move away from fortified wines to styles such as passito, Tokaji, or even trockenbeerenauslese, where sweetness, acidity and flavour are concentrated in the grape by sun-drying or very late harvesting.