Wine and BBQ Dinner

At home in leafy West London
Tasted Saturday, August 13, 2022 by lozatron with 126 views

Introduction

A dinner to try pairing wine with (broadly) Kansas City style BBQ. The smoke and sweetness make things a little tricky, and we added 30+ celsius temperatures to make things even trickier.

Flight 1 - Cheese and Bacon Ebelskivers (3 Notes)

Lovely set of champagnes - the blind pair of B de Bs was such a treat, and a wonderful idea, and the rosé was amazing. Such a great start.

Flight 2 - Smoked Trout and Sweet Potatoes (2 Notes)

Such lovely wines, and paired with the food really well I thought. It did make me think that an "oxidative whites" dinner would be fun - or at least maybe a course of oxidative whites...

Flight 3 - Smoked Iberico Pork Ribs, Pulled Pork Shoulder, Celeriac and Carrot (3 Notes)

A treat to be able to drink the Artadi - a style of wine I'm really not familiar with - again, it did make me think that a "modern Rioja" dinner could be fun and interesting...

  • 1999 Artadi Rioja Grandes Añadas

    Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alavesa, Rioja

    First time tasting this wine - evidently "modern" style Rioja - French Oak, more extraction, perhaps a bit more international in style? Clearly a serious wine - my first taste of this style and I struggled to really understand it. Made me think that I should go to a modern Rioja dinner to try to learn more...

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  • 1997 La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 904

    Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja

    Started off a little sour - I wondered if it might even be faulty? Started to pull itself together and definitely enjoyable but never reached the heights I hoped it would. Not sure if this suffered from the heat, or if this was just not a great bottle - weakest of the rioja flight.

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  • 2001 La Rioja Alta Rioja Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial

    Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja

    Bonus half bottle opened at the last minute. My favourite of the Riojas - really shining - although I did chill it, and wonder if the others would have benefitted from being cooler?

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Flight 4 - Smoked Beef Short Rib, Cornish vs Devon Brisket, Beetroot and Broccoli (3 Notes)

All the beeves! "Ledbury" short rib and brisket from Philip Warren in Launceston, and Devon Wagyu brisket. To me the Devon Wagyu brisket was clearly a step ahead of the Cornwall - gorgeous yellow fat that just melted in the mouth, but the short ribs stole the show. Of all the pandemic silver linings...discovering that meat is definitely one of them...

  • 1999 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District

    Big wine - ready to go I think but lots of life ahead of it. Of all the wines we drank last night - this is the one I wish I'd been able to concentrate more on - it's always a little difficult to balance hosting with contemplative wine appreciation...but as far as I can recall - it has the classic cali cab cigar box / pencil lead nose, tons of presence but not overbearing, really good stuff.

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  • 1993 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon S.L.V.

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District

    Quieter than the Shafer that sad beside it, but what do you expect...a delicious, together, mature cali cab, albeit one clearly on the downslope. If you have some, consider drinking up.

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  • 2008 Ridge Monte Bello

    USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

    Drinking so well just now. Still a bit of a loud teenager, but doing it in a somewhat graceful and articulate way - like your own child giving you backchat and telling you what's what, but in such a way that you can't help feeling proud. A lot of time ahead of it for sure, but drinking so well now it's no waste to drink it.

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Flight 5 - The most wonderful Crême Caramel (1 Note)

Huge thanks to A for bringing this wonderful treat, and huger thanks to his wife for preparing it for us. So delicious.

  • 1985 Château Climens

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

    I was well served by this point and clarity escapes me. Light colour, still so fresh, none of the marmalade character I was expecting, and maybe a little less complexity than I was expecting too.

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Closing

A really lovely dinner - superb company, wonderful wine. I think the temperature made things a bit harder than they otherwise would be on the wines - my sense is that in a cooler environment all of the reds would have performed better - but they were still very enjoyable.

Looking at my notes, interesting how this dinner made me think about other dinners that would be fun to do - I should practice being more present and mindful I suppose, but also nice to have goals in life :-)

I really enjoyed the theme - not sure I'll be *rushing* to do it again, but equally, definitely worth revisiting in a year or two. I think if I did it again I would definitely keep the champagne focus, and white rioja (or perhaps oxidative whites in general) - and I think a syrah flight would show really well.

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