Patio Pairings

Happy April, BSF fans! We don’t know about you, but this warmer weather has us itching to dust off our patio furniture and spark up our grills for some outdoor sipping and dining. When it comes to a day of backyard barbecuing, some people’s first beverage of choice might be beer, but we at Black Star Farms know that the right wine paired with the right grilled fare can be a match made in heaven.

Warmer temps call for chilled wines but don’t count out the reds completely. We have some fantastic food pairing ideas for you to try the next time you fire up your grill. If you haven’t touched your grill since last summer, be sure to prepare your grill properly before using it. Grillaholics has an easy, step-by-step guide on preparing your grill for your first barbecue of the season. Check it out here.

And now for the tasty portion of the newsletter! We have compiled a list of some of our favorite “patio pairings” for the spring, and we can’t wait for you to try them.

Label for the 2019 Arcturos Semi-Dry Riesling.

Arcturos Semi-Dry Riesling and Spicy BBQ Porkchops
With its hint of sweetness, our Semi-Dry Riesling is a great match for BBQ, especially if your choice of BBQ sauce packs a little heat. This invigorating wine bursts open on your palate with bright acidity, a touch of sweetness, and a refreshingly dry finish. Flavors of green apple dominate this wine, which is perfect because apples and pork have been a go-to pairing for centuries. Combine these complementary flavors with the BBQ sauce’s heat and the sweetness of the Riesling, and you won’t be disappointed!

Example of grilled pork chops with barbecue sauce.

Arcturos Pinot Blanc and Grilled Shrimp
This vintage of Pinot Blanc has beautiful aromatics, lush fruit flavors, and an overall balance that make it a great white for many different occasions. With its subtle creaminess and notes of lemon, this wine is a superb match for grilled shrimp. To avoid overpowering the wine or the shrimp, we suggest seasoning lightly and simply giving your shrimp a squeeze of fresh lemon juice after it has come off the grill.

Label for the 2019 Arcturos Pinot Noir Rose.

Arcturos Pinot Noir Rosé and Grilled Salmon
Rosé and salmon are truly a perfect fit for one another. With its pink flesh, high-fat content, and heavier density, salmon is on a different playing field than other fish, so it can easily overpower a lighter-bodied wine. Juicy red fruit notes of strawberry and pomegranate, a solid acid backbone, and a dry finish give our Pinot Noir Rosé just the right amount of body to take on salmon’s bolder flavors.

Label for the 2017 Arcturos Cabernet Franc

Arcturos Cabernet Franc and Grilled Beef Kabobs
When picturing beef kabobs, we see skewers loaded with steak, bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms, and these ingredients pair perfectly with this hearty red. This wine boasts rustic, earthy characteristics with hints of spice that complement charred veggies and marry well with beef.

Nouveau Marquette and Grilled Bratwurst
The Nouveau Marquette, fashioned closely after Beaujolais Nouveau, is a lighter-bodied red wine with bright acidity and lush fruit flavors like blackberry and cherry. It is these qualities that make it a great pairing for bratwurst. This low-tannin, fruit-driven red almost tricks your palate into believing this dry wine has a hint of sweetness which is a perfect balance to the spices present in bratwurst. On top of that, the Nouveau Marquette’s zippy acidity does a great job cutting through bratwurst’s fatty flavors. Pro-tip, try lightly chilling the Nouveau Marquette on those hotter days.

At the end of the day, the most important part of food and wine pairings is picking a wine that you like. There may be some general rules about pairing properly (white meat/white wine, red meat/red wine), but listening to your palate and finding wines that you enjoy is what ultimately makes a good pairing!