Wine and Barbecue

Wine and Barbecue. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

This is a great weekend to think about barbecuing. Hamburgers - steaks - hot dog - even fish and chicken are all wonderful on the grill. Add some roughly chopped veggies on the grill and even fruit and you are in BBQ heaven. Let me make one suggestion. Instead of popping a cold one or guzzling a soda, why not pick up a couple bottles of Washington’s finest wines. But all those rules about red wine with steak and white with poultry or is it fish, have put off a lot of people. Ryan Pennington, Public Relations Director for the Washington Wine Commission helps to clarify things.

PENNINGTON: You know there really aren’t a lot of hard and fast rules. It’s really more - drink what you enjoy. But for something like barbecue I think because the flavors are so bold, any of the more bold red wines from the northwest; cab, merlot,syrah would pair well. I would steer clear of things like Pinot Noir which is a little bit more delicate and would probably tend to get over powered by the flavors of barbecue.

That’s not to say that some of the sweeter wines would be out of place on the picnic table.

PENNINGTON: If your barbecue has something - you know a high degree of spice to it you might actually want something like a Riesling, something with a little bit of sugar to kind of balance out that spice. But really it’s trial and error. Drink what you like and enjoy it.

Guess a trip to the grocery store is in order.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.