Which wines go best with barbecues?

Everyone I know who has a barbecue has been grilling every day during the recent heat wave, which really blows up the idea that barbecues are only for weekends. ends, large crowds and meat out of water. These days we cook anything and everything outside: fish, vegetables (even for a salad), halloumi… I suspect we'd grill pasta, if we could. (Someone will probably tell me you can.)

So there really is no wine to go with a barbecue, but - and that's a big but - other than what your friends expect, which is usually a loud, big red. Admittedly, it's the type of wine that goes with a sweet, smoky, and spicy barbecue sauce, the one element of barbecue that's really problematic. But not everything you grill gets coated with it.

What people expect to drink often gets in the way of what they might enjoy if they could. open their minds to this possibility. A good example being red wine with cheese; in fact, white wine often goes much better, but cheese usually comes at the end of a meal when you don't want to go white again. So in the interest of keeping your friends in their comfort zone, reds are it.

I personally like a cooler, lighter red, like the Gaillac or the Curioso tempranillo in today's selection, with my barbecue rather than full-bodied, but I know that's not universal. A lot of my peeps (mostly men) who are primarily red wine drinkers are Malbec lovers and a bit of a sniff on wines under 14.5%. But the downside of wines at 14.5% and above is that the outside temperature tends to accentuate the alcohol and make them taste warm and mellow. Barbeque wines should be a refreshing contrast to the heat and spice of the food - hence the popularity of a cold beer - so try keeping your reds in a cooler or dunk them in a bucket or tub. ice. (If any resident pads question this, direct them to the back label which will usually say the wine should be served at 17-18C.)

It's best treat barbecue like other more intense cooking methods, such as roasting or searing. The more char you have on a piece of meat or fish, the spicier the marinades and seasonings, the tangier the accompanying dressings, the fuller your wine should be. Think rustic and unrefined, young and unoaked rather than mature and mellow. Summer wines, in other words.

Five light reds to serve at a barbecue

< p class="dcr-3jlghf ">Granite Earth Swartland Red 2020 offered at 6.50 £ Morrisons, 14%. An exuberant blend of red varietals from one of South Africa's most exciting wine regions. Can handle a little spice.