Wine Down the Road: Grilling in Virginia Wine Country

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

IT'S A CLASSIC summer scene: firing up the grill, throwing on a slab of meat and cracking open a nice, cold bottle of … Riesling or cabernet.

At least, that's the ideal pairing for Bree Ann Moore, the winemaker at Loudoun Valley Vineyards.

Located just about an hour outside the city in Waterford, Va., Loudoun Valley is hosting the first in a summer-long series of cooking classes that aim in part to shake the notion that once cooking moves outdoors, beer becomes the beverage of choice.

"A lot of people don't think of barbecue with wine, but we find it works really well," she said. "I haven't found one wine that doesn't work well."

She will be sharing her discoveries Aug. 2 during a $130 per-person, $250 per-couple class featuring instruction from chef Joe Randall. Food author Joe David, who organized the class, hopes to hold four similar events at local vineyards this summer. The next, a tasting with David and former PBS chef instructor Philip Carter Winery in Hume, Va., is scheduled for Aug. 6.

Moore said there are a few basic rules when it comes to matching wines with food off the grill: "If you're doing fish, you stick with whites. If you're making a steak, I'd recommend sticking
with our reds."

Loudoun's Classic White, a fruity, light blend of Eastern European and French grapes that should go over well with Gewurztraminer fans is Moore's go-to wine for fish and vegetarian dishes.

For steaks, especially those with a lot of pepper, she likes her Cabernet Franc. "It has this incredibly peppery essence that goes great with that kind of steak."

But she added that something less dry, like a pinot noir, is best for burgers, since "the tannins are light and the fruit flavors really come out."

Sweeter wines work best when grilling heavily spiced ethnic foods, and Moore recommends marinating meat with the same wine that will be served at the table, to help marry the flavors of dish and beverage. Bringing charcoal or wood into the picture also requires a little strategizing, especially for grillers who use a lot of smoke.

"With a smoker, I'd go with a heavier, tannic wine," Moore said. "You'll need something that can stand up to it."

Moore also had a suggestion for an unorthodox matchup: grilled meat and dessert wine.
She said Loudoun's Port-like red made from Portuguese Touriga Nacional grapes, which is on the lower end of sweetness for dessert wines, serves as a good companion to steaks and other beef dishes.

"You've got the sweet with the spicy," she said.

And, considering that marinades usually combine sweet and spicy components, dessert wines are ideal for the job, she said. Loundoun makes an apple wine that Moore uses to marinate pork for three days, yielding what she called "incredibly tender" results.

However, she said all of her guidelines for picking wines that complement grilled flavors boil down to one rule: "Drink what you like with what you like to eat."

» Loudoun Valley Vineyards, 38516 Charles Town Pike, Waterford, Va.; 540-882-3375
» Philip Carter Winery, 4366 Stillhouse Road, Hume, Va.; 540-364-1203.

Written by Express contributor Robert Margetta
Photo courtesy Joe David