D4

CRAIG PINHEY
GOOD DRINK

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Although warmer weather tends to send me towards white wine, rosé, a fruity cocktail or a cold beer, there are times when red wine is in order. Barbecue is definitely one of those situations, especially if you're grilling meat such as burgers, ribs, lamb racks and steak.

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Red wine is a great accompaniment to burgers, slow-cooked ribs and grilled meats.

Many people stick with whatever cold drink they happen to have in their hand when the meat is ready, and it is hard to argue with that, but I prefer certain types of reds, depending on the meat and the preparation.

Burgers

You basic hamburger dressed up with the usual condiments, and maybe some grilled onions and cheese, or slow-cooked ribs with a sweet and slightly spicy sauce both call for a relatively simple red, like a basic Shiraz or Merlot, or perhaps a New World Pinot Noir.

Burgers tend to disappear rather quickly, so you don't want a big tannic red that needs to time to open up in the glass. Instead, reach for a soft, easy red that is ready to drink now. Clancy's Red (2005, $19.99), from Peter Lehmann of the Barossa Valley in Southeast Australia, is a few notches about "cheap and cheerful."

A favourite of Wine Spectator, Clancy's is a blend of 35 per cent Shiraz, 34 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon, 26 per cent Merlot and five per cent Cabernet Franc. It has plenty of the region's trademark fruity character, but is relatively elegant, a good food wine, and not overly oaked.

My only complaint is its 14.5-per-cent alcohol, a bit high for a wine you want to drink over a full dinner, although it doesn't taste too "hot." That and its soft fruitiness should help it to go well with the hot pepper in the barbecue sauce.

The pH, a measure of the wine's acidity, is 3.52, which is quite low for a hot-climate red, and indicates a certain expectation of freshness on the palate. High pH (low acid) wines of 3.9 or even four or higher typically indicate the wine is slick and fat, and not really appropriate for food.

Steak and chops

For the more aggressive flavours of grilled meat, such as lamb or steak, I recommend a more tannic wine with stronger, even slightly smoky flavours. Argentina's Las Moras Black Label Malbec, from San Juan, is a good choice that, at $17.99, is impressive for the price.

Las Moras is a very modern winery that uses the latest techniques to extract maximum flavour from the grapes, while still giving smooth tannins, meaning the wines drink very easily even when young. This one is no exception. Grapes for this big red were manually harvested, aged in French oak for 15 months, and bottle-aged for eight months before release.

It has the modern coffee and chocolate touches of toasty oak, but retains enough of Malbec's rustic tannins to appeal to lovers of Old World reds (like me!).

As with the Clancy's, the pH is low, making it food-friendly. The alcohol is a somewhat high at 14.2 per cent, but these days that seems to be the norm rather than the exception for red wine.

Enjoy these two modern but relatively elegant reds with your barbecue this summer, but please heed this advice: keep them at 18°C (64°F) or below. I'd even prefer 16°C (61°F). When a red wine gets too warm it becomes very unappealing on a hot day.

Cheers!

Craig Pinhey is a writer and Sommelier, available for private tastings.