05/17/07 Grilling

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today is food and wine pairing day. It is already summer in Washington Wine Country and although we grill most of the year now we are grilling everyday. So let's talk about grilling food and the wines that go well with it. At our house we grill so much, and so often, that we have two grills. One is a big outdoor grill that has a rotisserie and the other is just outside the kitchen door. We have been known to have them going at the same time. That familiar lovely caramelized or slightly charred flavor imparted by foods cooked on the grill is what to me calls out to both red and white wines of differing styles. For different reasons, the magic is that both red and white wines seem to work with grilled foods. One reason being that you could take a fish for example that you might ordinarily serve exclusively with a white wine and once it is grilled it has additional flavors that work very well with red wine and the bonus is a little bit bigger style of white wine will still be lovely. Vegetables in concept are the same. Although a delicate soft wine is only rarely the wine of choice for grilled foods. You can lightly smoke of cook foods wrapped in foil and even those delicate wines could be just the ticket. As many of you know I am a lover of bubbly and to me Champagne or Sparkling wine is glorious on a warm summer evening with just about anything off the grill. Why be in the kitchen during the summer? Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.