At the stroke of midnight on November 20, with great anticipation and celebration, France will honor the uncorking of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau.

And even though we Americans were sampling this year’s Childress Vineyard’s Fine Swine Wine —produced for Lexington, North Carolina’s Barbecue Festival—the barbecue fanatics and wine connoisseur’s who gathered recently in The Omnivore’s tasting room were no less excited.

After all, how often do you get to try a wine that an award-winning winemaker, Mark Friszolowski, made especially to go with barbecue? “The semi-sweet, fruity flavor is a perfect match for hickory-smoked barbecue,” Friszolowski says.

And we agreed. “Light and fruity, with notes of pepper and cherry,” one wine enthusiast said. “It spreads nicely over the palate and is good with the spicy ‘cue,” another opined. “Sort of soda-poppie,” a Canadian added. “Neither sweet nor dry,” someone else said.

Consensus? Surprisingly pleasant and goes down good with ‘cue that’s been cooked slow and low over hickory coals, especially if it doesn’t have a gloppy, saccharine sweet sauce all over it. (To see how Fine Swine Wine tasted when paired against three styles of barbecue, check out my ‘Cue Confessions blog.)

Robert Pierson, a former sommelier and chair of food science and management at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, loves the idea. “Ideally, wines made in different parts of the United States should be tailored to fit the foods of the area,” Pierson says. “If you look at France, geographically the wines complement the foods in the area.” Where oysters are abundant, you have sharp, white wines. Where tons of foie gras is devoured, sauterne, a perfect match, is vinted..

“But don’t waste your time or money on really expensive wines,” advises Pierson, once the food and beverage manager of The Latham Hotel in Philadelphia. “There’s no great match up with a really tangy sauce. It doesn’t exist.” Why? “The tanginess of the sauce will dull your taste buds,” he says, “so why drink a $200 Chateau Lafitte?”

Do you know of a wine that goes perfect with pulled pork? And what’s your favorite ‘cue? For a list of hundreds of barbecue restaurants recommended by readers of none other than Delta’s own Sky magazine, check out this link.

David
Delta Sky

Note: Delta Sky magazine will contribute to Under the Wing each Wednesday. Tell us what you think!