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Who says Zin can't age?! A bottle from Mazzocco winery in Dry Creek pairs beautifully with a spiced pot roast. Get ready to cozy up!




Zinfandel gets a bit of a bad rap in the ageability department. It’s not really known as one of its strong suits. However, I’ve had some very good luck with moderately aged bottles. In fact, just this week I opened a bottle from 2010 and was very happy with what I found in my glass. 


I think there are a few factors that lead to the perception that Zins aren’t meant for cellaring. To start with, a big part of the charm of California Zinfandels is their alluring, rich fruit notes, and cellaring will diminish exactly those attributes. As well, there are a lot of crappy zins out there that go way beyond jammy and are just plain flabby. Take a sip of one of these and the wine kind of just sits on your palate and weighs it down. Bleh. 


A well-made Zin with good structure and acidity, however, can definitely be worth cellaring. Of course, I might not recommend keeping most bottles around for decades (although I have had one or two that managed to make that kind of journey through time), but there is an interesting sweet spot where the grape’s deep fruit notes start to mix with the notes of leather, tobacco, and dried leaves that come with time with beautiful results. I’m happy to say that we had just that kind of luck with the bottle of Mazzocco Winery Thurow Vineyard Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley 2010 I opened this week. 


Moreover, the combination of berries, spices, and a few dried leaves tasted like fall in a bottle. 



For more background on Zin, check out this post.



THE WINE: MAZZOCCO WINERY THUROW VINEYARD ZINFANDEL 2010





Mazzocco specializes in Zinfandel. They make wines from other grapes as well, however, Zins makes up the lion’s share of their offerings. They have a wide variety of single-vineyard Zin bottlings, so it’s a great place to taste the different ways the grape can express itself. 


It’s been a few years since we stopped at their tasting room in Dry Creek Valley, however, in my experience, their wines tend to be on the richer end of Zin, but they maintain enough acidity to hold up all that fruit. Their wines tend to be bigger than what I normally go for, but I simply find them to be quite yummy. 


Wine tasting tip: Mazzocco’s tasting room is just down the road from Ridge Lytton Springs, another personal favorite. Ridge makes a very different style of Zin, which makes for a great comparison. Between the offerings at these two spots, you can get a really good idea of the range Zin is capable of. After you’re done tasting, head down the road just a bit further to the Dry Creek General Store to enjoy some excellent sandwiches.


We picked up this bottle of their 2010 Thurow Vineyard Zin on a stop at the winery way back in 2012. In the decade that bottle was with us, it went back with us to New York (where we were living at the time), and then it moved back with us when we returned to California. It’s been through a lot. Whenever I open a bottle like this, there’s a moment when I feel like I’m holding my breath as I wait for the verdict on if the wine is still doing ok or if we’ve missed our window. Luckily, I needn’t have worried. The wine was doing just fine. 





In my memory, the Thurow married deep berry flavors with an undercurrent of earthiness. This continued to be true, and as one might expect, time had brought the earthy factors out even more. On the nose, the wine showed notes of stewed mixed berries, dried leaves, notes of dusty earth, licorice, clove, and white pepper.  On the palate, the berry flavors were richer and blended fresh and stewed fruit notes. Boysenberry, plums, and pomegranate joined the party, along with more pepper, spice box, and mixed dried herbs. Greg added that he picked up notes of blueberries, purple flowers, and a bit of bacon fat. I didn’t tell him what I’d poured for him when I first had him taste it, and he did not think it was showing his age at all. 


We knew we were in for a treat with our dinner. 




A quick trip down memory lane – Greg and I at Mazzocco in 2012 and with my parents in 2016.




THE PAIRING: SPICED POT ROAST WITH MUSHROOMS & SWEET POTATOES 


It’s been getting chilly so I wanted to make something cozy to go with this wine that would reflect the wine’s autumnal feel. I decided on pot roast since something rich and meat seemed perfect. I wanted to play with the range of flavors in the wine, so I added mushrooms for their earthiness, along with lightly caramelized onions, sweet potatoes, and flavored it all with thyme, allspice, and white pepper.  I also find mushrooms to be a secret weapon when serving aged wines. Even wines that taste over the hill (and this one was NOT) seem to get revived a bit when they're paired with mushrooms.


As it happens far more often than I’d like to admit, I ended up running late with my food prep, so I decided to enlist my Instant Pot to help me regain some time. You can absolutely make this on the stovetop or in the oven as well, but you’ll just likely need more liquid than indicated here. 


In the version I made, I added the sweet potatoes and mushrooms toward the beginning shortly after the onions. The sweet potatoes didn’t hold up under the high-pressure cooking and kind of disintegrated into the cooking liquid. I actually enjoyed it this way as they added body to the sauce, however, it didn’t look as pretty as it might have with bigger chunks. After looking at a few recipes, I’ve taken a play from a recipe I found via New York Times Cooking and have adjusted the recipe here for how I’d do it next time.  


To finish things off, I served it all on a bed of quick-cooking barley, peas, and lentils which added texture and nutty flavors. 





The pairing was everything I could have hoped for and the wine gained added depth when sipped alongside the savory flavors of the pot roast. A perfect combo for snuggling up on a chilly night!



Geeky Details



I don’t think Mazzocco is making wine from this vineyard anymore, as I could no longer find it on their website. However, I'll quickly note that Mazzocco grows their grapes sustainably and is Certified California Sustainable for its vineyard practices.


The current average price of this wine is $32 and while this one might no longer be available, Mazzocco has quite a few offerings in this price range. 


*****



*****


For more posts and pairings related to Zinfandel, check out:

  • Cooking to the Wine: Ridge Geyserville with Smoky Bourbon Pork Chops and Warm Farro-Squash Salad
  • Two Sides of a Coin: Primitivo and Zinfandel (with Ribs Two Ways)
  • All About Burger Pairings
  • 2 oz Pours: Old School Baller Pairings
  • 2 oz Pours: Campsite Dining
  • 8 & $20: Plum-Soy Duck Breast with Asian Slaw




*****


The Wine Pairing Weekend (#WinePW)  blogging group is exploring Zinfandel this month. Be sure to check out the rest of their posts:


  • Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla is Inspired by Notes of Asian Spices: Braised Spareribs + Brown Estate Zinfandel 2021
  • Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm shares Pasta with Sausage and Eggplant in a Zinfandel Wine Sauce
  • Gwendolyn of the Wine Predator is all in with A Vegetarian Feast: “VegTurducken” paired with 5 CA Zinfandels #WinePW
  • Terri of A Good Life pairs Bucklin Bambino Zin with French Onion Soup #WinePW
  • Host Martin of ENOFYLZ Wine Blog shares Roasted Salmon Glazed with Brown Sugar and Mustard + 2013 Under The Wire Sparkling Zinfandel RosĂ©

It’s time to hit the grill! In the spirit of upcoming Labor Day cookouts, we’re taking a deep dive into burgers and what wines to pair with them, breaking things down by component to see what works with your favorite toppings.  

This post contains some wines sent as samples. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.


Burgers are quite probably Greg's favorite food, so we enjoy them around here pretty often. Over time, I've found that they can work pretty solidly well with lots of different wines, but if you want to take those pairings up a notch, it’s time to take a look at your toppings. Some condiments and toppings we often have on burgers can be pretty tricky when it comes to pairing with wines. We’re going to break things down by topping to see what works with each one. 


Generally speaking, I think you can get away with a lot in terms of style and weight. Most of us probably immediately think of red wines when it comes to beef (or lamb) burger pairings, but in Pairing Burgers & Wine: Research with Devison Vintners and Canvasback Winery post, we saw that even rosĂ©s can make for a delicious accompaniment to a burger. Reds of all styles from juicy and chuggable to big and smoky can work here, depending on what toppings you choose to add. 


One structural element that I do think makes a difference is tannin. I personally find that wines with aggressive, burly tannins can pose a challenge for many burgers and can overpower them. Tannins create an astringent, grippy sensation on your palate. However, tannins and meat love each other, and when you sip a tannic wine alongside something meaty, the meat proteins have a way of calming down those bad boys. They smooth out and become silky in your mouth.  


Even though burgers are obviously meaty, I find that foods made from ground meat (burgers, but also meatballs and meatloaf) don’t tame tannins quite the same way as a steak or a braised meat dish can. No fear if you want a big red with your burger though, there are plenty of options that work, just don’t go for the most structured bottles. Opt for options with smooth, ripe tannins. Zinfandel, Merlot, Argentinian Malbec, and a lot of Cab Francs are all great general go-to’s, and we'll see a few others along the way.


This Ridge Vineyards Geyserville Alexander Valley 2008 we enjoyed at the Culinary Cabin made for one of the most epic burger pairings ever! It's a Zin dominant blend. For more on Ridge, check out this post.


- Catena Malbec Mendoza 2017 with an A+ Burger with bacon and avocado (you can read more about Catena in this post).
- Dracaena Wines Cabernet Franc Paso Robles 2017 (sample) with a True Burger. You can read more about this wine here.
-  Roots Run Deep Winery 'Educated Guess' Merlot Napa Valley 2014 with messy cheddar and grilled onion on an English muffin.
- Bodega Tapiz Alta Collection Malbec Uco Valley 2017 (sample) on a similar burger, but on a sourdough bun.



Ok, now let’s take a look at those toppings. 



Ketchup and BBQ Sauce


The biggest determining factor IMHO for the type of wine that will pair well with a burger is the type of sauce or condiment you put on top. Ketchup and BBQ sauce are the trickiest to pair. Why? Because of the amount of sugar in the sauce. That sweetness will take the wind out of the fruit in the wine and can make the wine taste sour. A little bit doesn’t always make a big difference, particularly if it’s mixed with other condiments, but if you love to douse your burgers with lots of ketchup it’s best to pick a very fruit-forward wine. This goes double for BBQ sauce, which is even sweeter.


A fruity Zinfandel is a great choice in this case, as is a ripe Shiraz/Syrah. Both of these also work when you have lightly spicy sauces in the mix.



This Charles Woodson Intercept Paso Robles 2017  is a blend of Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Petit Verdot, Tempranillo, and Syrah. It was big and bold with smooth tannins and lots of ripe fruit that made it work really well with these HUGE BBQ burgers with onions rings from A+ Burger here in Oakland. 


Kunde Family Estate Syrah Sonoma Valley 2016 and a burger. Photo credit Nicole Ruiz Hudson.

I have to admit that this Kunde Family Estate Syrah Sonoma Valley 2016  had a much fruitier/bigger/oakier profile than is typically my style, but it worked well with a burger with lots of ketchup.




Cheese


I love cheese, and very happily, in my experience, the choice of cheese doesn’t tend to throw the wine pairing as much I might’ve thought. It also works out well that a lot of the cheeses we commonly put on burgers like cheddar and blue cheese pair easily with a lot of red wines we tend to commonly reach for with burgers like Cab, Syrah, and Zin. These strongly flavored cheeses work quite well with these bolder reds. Often, even if the cheese and the red wine aren’t a direct match one on one, there’s enough other stuff going on in the burger that helps everything work together nicely.


The  Raft Wines Weed Farm Syrah Dry Creek Valley 2018 (sample) is a juicier style of Syrah, but still has a smoky note that works perfectly with the char on a burger, as well as the bite of sharp cheddar cheese. A blurry picture, but a great pairing.


 Forlorn Hope Ost-Intrigen Ricci Vineyard St. Laurent 2016 paired with this super cheesy Juicy Lucy was another of my favorite burger pairings ever. You can read more about the wine and get the recipe here. 



Bacon 


Bring it on! In my experience, bacon only does good things when it comes to pairing burgers and wines, whether red or even rosé. Wines with a bit of a smoky note make particularly good pairings. Rhône/GSM blends (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre) or these grapes on their own as well, tend to do really well for this very reason. Petite Sirah is another grape that tends to love the smoky notes.


This Clos de Trias Ventoux 2012 with a Bacon-Cheddar Teriyaki Burger was a magical pairing. Another fave.


The Benovia Grenache Sonoma Mountain 2017 made for another excellent combo with a bacon cheeseburger at the Culinary Cabin.



LOVED this Mountain Tides California Petite Sirah 2019 (sample) with a bacon burger on a ciabatta roll. Mountain Tides specializes in Petite Sirah, and they make it in a style that's a step lighter than most, and all have readily approachable tannins that won't overwhelm a burger. This one is particularly chuggable and an excellent value.


The Omen Red Blend Sierra Foothills 2017 suggests pairing the wine with a bacon cheeseburger right on the back of the bottle. Who am I to argue?! This blend does include lots of burger-friendly red grapes.


Mushrooms


Mushrooms work well with most red wines, and putting them on a burger tends to make the whole thing more wine-friendly. If you like earthier wines, bringing mushrooms into the mix will make for a happier burger pairing since the flavors mirror each other deliciously.


I once did a side-by-side tasting of several wines plus a beer with a mushroom burger (one of these days I’ll share it here) and the winners in the match-up were a Bordeaux and a dry Lambrusco. Each worked for different reasons, but they both had a lot of earthy notes in the mix. 



Lini 910 'In Corneggio' Lambrusco Scuro Emilia NV



Avocado


We live in California so it’s inevitable that avocado and guac find themselves on our burgers often. In general, since avocados bring more creamy texture rather than intense flavor, they don't throw off the flavors of most wines, and you can see lots of examples of pairing that worked throughout this post. However, there is a touch of green to their flavor that I find works particularly well with the pyrazines in Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. 


I sometimes like to take my burgers in a Tex-Mex direction and add roasted red peppers and onions along with avo or guac, and these two choices work even better in this combo.


 Banshee Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2019 is a ripe and toasty Cab, but with smooth tannins that went down easy and didn't overpower the burger. It worked well with this cheeseburger with onion, peppers, and avocado cream.



Caramelized Onions


Caramelized onions add a bit of sweetness, but not as much as ketchup or BBQ sauce. There’s also a savory quality alongside the sweet factor, so they end up being fairly wine-friendly when on a burger. As long as there’s some fruit to the wine, you should be good to go, so a lot of the go-to’s already discussed work well here as well. 


Caramelized onions and gorgonzola made for a happy match with Merlots from Duckhorn in #MerlotMe Again: High-Low Duckhorn Burger Night.


This burger has caramelized onion, bacon jam, cheese, and avocado and Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Hook Vineyard Grenache Santa Lucia Highlands 2015 worked with it all. 




Tomatoes


A slice or two of tomato doesn’t throw things too much, but if you’re creating a burger with an Italian feel topped with LOTS of tomatoes or savory tomato sauce – which I do from time to time – then you might want to give them some consideration. Tomatoes have a lot of acidity, and if you pair them with a wine that doesn’t have the acidity to match, the wine can wind up tasting deflated or flabby. Most Italian reds have lots of acidity, so I say stick with the theme. A fuller style of Barbera or a fruitier Chianti can be tasty matches here. 





The Temperature Outside


I don’t know about you, but if I’m at a cookout on a hot, sunny day, a big red just does NOT appeal to me. Light to Medium bodied reds are perfect here – a Beaujolais Cru or Loire Valley Cab Franc are good all-purpose choices. This is also a perfect case for a chillable red. Many are quite fruity, making them good options to go with a classic backyard burger with ketchup or BBQ sauce. Lambrusco fits the bill beautifully as well and has the added bonus of bringing refreshing bubbles into the mix.


Another option is to grab lighter styles of you're other favorite grapes. This is also a great time for a beer, of course.


Not a great picture, I'll admit, and a very simple burger, however, Ultraviolet Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is one of my favorite weeknight Cabs in general and is excellent with a burger. It also works in just about any kind of weather because it's medium-bodied – way less heavy than your average Cab. It won't leave you knocked out, even on a warm day.




Other Types of Burgers


While we love meaty burgers around here, other types of burgers often make it into the rotation. If you prefer a meatless burger along the lines of a quinoa, black bean, or imitation meat burger I’d say most of the guidelines above still hold, so go ahead and pair based on the toppings as described above.


The Awesome Burger is much like the Impossible Burger or the Beyond Burger and it paired nicely with Louis M. Martini Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon,  just like a regular meat burger would.


In the case of turkey burgers or chicken burgers, I generally prefer to choose a wine with a little less body and intensity than with a meat burger, so factor in that as well as the topping. There are also lots of cases where a rosé or white wine would make a great choice with these as well.


I also often like seafood options like shrimp burgers. In this case, a white or rosĂ© is in order. If you’re still in the mood for a red, look for one with fairly light tannins. 


Although a shrimp burger is considerably lighter than a meat burger, there's still a lot of flavor and texture going on in this case with the creamy coleslaw and the wheaty bun. A richer white like Edna Valley Vineyard Chardonnay Central Coast works well here. 


Another less than ideal shot, but this Wapisa Sauvignon Blanc Rio Negro 2019 (sample) paired well with another shrimp burger topped with guac and goat cheese. It liked the green notes of the first and the tangy flavors of the latter.


Now, someone please hand me a burger!



For more on burger pairings, check out these posts and recipes:

  • Pairing Burgers & Wine: Research with Devison Vintners and Canvasback Winery
  • A Harvest at Forlorn Hope & Juicy Lucies
  • Cooking to the Wine: Clos de Trias Ventoux with Bacon-Cheddar-Teriyaki Burgers
  • #MerlotMe Again: High-Low Duckhorn Burger Night
  • 5 Cali Cab Francs
  • Exploring California in 5 Merlots
  • 8 & $20: Burgers Florentine
  • 8 & $20: Masala Turkey Burgers with Mango Chutney


This post contains Amazon Affiliate links, from which I might earn a commission at no cost to you.




Identities can be so complicated. I mean, who are we all really?

In the case of wine grapes, advances in DNA profiling in recent decades have led to fascinating discoveries. In some cases, grapes thought to be one thing were determined to be something completely different. (It turns out I don’t know myself at all!)  Familial relationships between grapes have been discovered at times and disproved at others. (What?! I’m adopted?!) And in some cases, grapes have found they have doppelgangers living far far away.

No grape’s search for identity has been more of a roller coaster ride than Zinfandel’s. The search for its origins was even earned the nickname “Zinquest.”

Zin has often been seen as a quintessentially Californian grape, and many wanted to believe that it was native to this state, even though no Vitis vinifera vines are native to the US. (Growth of the Zin vines in California spread widely  with settlers that came to the state during the Gold Rush, and it had come to California even before that, but it's not actually from here.) Its true story started unraveling in the second half of the last century.

According to Wine Grapes, a plant pathologist named Austin Goheen visited Puglia in 1967 and happened to taste Primitivo wines that reminded him of Zinfandel. He sent cuttings to UC Davis, and soon various initial tests indicated that these two were likely the same grape. This was later confirmed in 1994 when Carole Meredith and her doctoral candidate John Bowers at Davis were proved through DNA profiling that these two were one and the same. 


I've had the pleasure of meeting Carole Meredith a couple of times now, and am always wowed by her knowledge.

For a long time, it was also believed that Zin/Primitivo is also the same as a Croatian grape called Plavac Mali. Mike Grgich, the legendary Croatian-born California winemaker, was a strong supporter of this idea and helped encourage Carole Meredith to find a connection, nonetheless, they kept coming up short. Ultimately, the Zinquest was successful in finding that another Dalmatian grape called Crljenak Kastelanski matched Zin’s DNA profile. It was also later found that the resemblance many saw in Plavac Mali was founded, as it was discovered that it’s an offspring of Zin/Primitivo/Crljenak Kastelanski.

The list of synonyms doesn’t end there though as it’s been found that the oldest name for this grape with many faces is Tribidrag, which dates back to the 15th century. Carole Meredith, who nowadays has a winery called Lagier-Meredith with her husband, chooses to label her Zin under this name.

If that road isn’t already long and winding enough, things do get a little more complicated. Even though these are all faces of the same grape, they are different clones, and it does change a bit in each place. According to Wine Grapes, Zinfandel bunches are more compact, berries are medium to large in size, and often ripen in a frustratingly uneven way. On the other hand, Primitivo tends to produce more grape bunches, but with fewer grapes that are often smaller. It also tends to be less prone is certain diseases like botrytis rot.

Given that there are some pretty big differences here, the idea that these grapes are actually the same was a pretty tough pill to swallow for many, and is still contested by some. In Native Wine Grapes of Italy, Ian D’Agata says, “Accepting this hasn’t been easy for anyone involved,” and goes on to describe the ire expressed by growers in both Puglia and California.  Nonetheless, all the major sources of wine info I’ve looked at list these names as synonyms for the same grape.

To make things even more confusing though, in the US the TTB doesn’t allow wineries to use the name interchangeably. If a winery bought a Primitivo vine, it must label the wine as “Primitivo,” and if the original vine was called Zinfandel, then that’s what goes on the bottle. Italian producers though can use whichever name they prefer.  It’s all enough to make you want to tear your hair out!

For my part, I make some sense of this all (in an incredibly geeky way) by considering various grape clones kind of like Cylons in Battle Star Gallactica. All the versions started out with the same specs and often retain similar characteristics, but as soon as they’re on the ground, their experiences and surroundings start to cause them to differ slightly.


For those of you who aren't quite so geeky, this is humanoid Cylon model number 8, also known as Sharon.

As you might guess, these differences lead to slightly different flavor profiles. Overall, in the case of both Zinfandel and Primitivo, you tend to see lots of big fruit flavors ranging through all the colors of the berry spectrum – raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry, blueberry – typically mixed with notes of sweet spices, vanilla, and chocolate. The wines tend to be medium to full-bodied, medium to medium+ tannins, and it tends to have medium+ to high levels of alcohol.

Broadly speaking, for me, the California versions tend to have a ripe to jammy sweet fruit quality, although good versions will have enough acidity in the wine to maintain balance. I love Zin, but nothing weighs a palate down like a bad one. You immediately understand what people mean by “flabby” wine when one of these crosses your lips. Good ones, on the other hand, can be layered and complex, with all of that fruit being perked up and elevated by a degree of brightness. (Ridge has been a favorite of ours from our earliest wine drinking days.)

Puglia is the big region for Primitivo in Italy, and Primitivo di Manduria is a key DOC for the grape. Rather than jammy fruit, I often get a dried fruit note from the Italian version, but kind of like craisin in that there’s also a tartness mixed in. The wines tend to be earthier, more tannic, and often have hints of bitter herbs and licorice mixed in.

It had been a long time since I’d had these takes on this grape side by side, so I decided it was time to revisit the comparison. In this case, both wines held up their end of the bargain and represented their camps admirably.

We’re on vacay, getting away from the world in desert landscapes. We’re also taking advantage of having a grill, which we don’t have at home, so I decided to make two versions of BBQ ribs to see how they each fared. Before we get there though, let’s take a look at the wines.

 

THE WINES

 

Rabble Wine Zinfandel Mossfire Ranch Paso Robles 2017


Price: $26 (I think I bought it for around $21 on sale.) | Alc. 14.5%

I picked up this bottle at a Whole Food’s on the way to our current location in Joshua Tree, and it was a new-to-me producer. The company was founded by Rob and Nancy Murray in 2011.  Rob is a long-time grower who has sold his grapes to many well-known wineries and also owns a vineyard management company, but he also has several lines of wines. (The Rabble line was formerly known as Force of Nature.) The website says the grapes also farmed sustainably. The wine is aged for 10 months in French and American oak barrels (25% new oak).

Tasting Notes: Raspberry, boysenberry, red plum, vanilla, cocoa, and anise. The wine had a lightly jammy mouthfeel but felt balanced as regards the acidity, and the tannins were smooth and ripe.



Podere 29 Aia Pervia Primitivo Puglia 2017


Price: $17 at K&L | Alc. 13.5%

This wine comes from a father and son team in Puglia that farm organically, with biodynamic principles. The wine is aged for 6 months in stainless steel tanks.

Tasting Notes: Black cherry, plums, raspberry. The fruit is a combo of juicy fruits, along with some more rasinated notes, along with hints of spice, bitter herbs, and savory umami notes. There’s good acidity to keep the wine feeling fresh, and the tannins were silky and easy-going This is a somewhat lighter style when compared to how big Primitivos from Puglia can get, particularly as the tannins weren’t particularly burly. Nonetheless, the flavors are a good intro to the style, balancing fruit with more savory and herbal hints.


THE PAIRINGS


Like I mentioned, we’ve been trying to take advantage of having a grill while on vacation since that’s not really a possibility in an apartment. I decided to make St. Louis-style ribs based on this recipe from Delish, but I thought it would be fun and tasty to try playing with two different sauces in the final grilling phase. I served everything with a simple side of peppers and onions that I cooked in the oven in the drippings from the ribs’ initial round of cooking.

I love ribs, but they can be tricky to pair given that the sweetness in the sauces can often be a tough hurdle for a lot of wines. Zin tends to be a good bet thanks to its fruity character, as well as the fact that many have a little residual sugar still left in.

 

In this case, I opted for Stubb's Hickory Bourbon BBQ Sauce and a Korean Gochujang sauce from One Culture Foods flavored with Chipotle, apple juice, and sesame oil.

We tried the Gochujang ribs first, and they were spicy, smoky, and all-around delightful. We both preferred the Primitivo with this sauce. The combo brought out the freshness in the wine and turned down the rasinated flavor notes. Greg also noted that the savory notes in the wine resonated well with umami notes in the sauce, particularly the nutty notes from the sesame.


In the case of the ribs with the BBQ sauce, it was a closer competition between the two wines, and Greg flipped back and forth initially. I ultimately preferred the Zin in this case, as its fruitiness came out to meet the sweetness in the sauce.

We ended up with two tasty combos. How could we not be happy with a big platter of saucy ribs and delicious wine?!

*****

The rest of the Italian Food, Wine, and Travel Blogging group is also exploring facets of Primitivo. If you happen to see this post early enough, join our discussion on Twitter on Saturday November 7th at 8 a.m PT/ 11 a.m. ET by following #ItalianFWT.

  • Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla:"Pasta Fra Diavolo Topped with Stuffed Squid + Li Veli Orion Primitivo 2018" 
  • Terri from Our Good Life: "Pumpkin Sage Alfredo with Scallops and Matanè Primitivo" 
  • Linda from My Full Wine Glass: “Primitivo: Zin’s not quite identical twin”
  • Lynn from Savor the Harvest: "Pouring Primitivo, Four Wines From Puglia"
  • Susannah from Avvinare: "Tasting Primitivo di Manduria"
  • Wendy at A Day In The Life on the Farm: "Primitivo: Old World vs New World"
  • Jen at Vino Travels: "Primitivo:The Zinfandel of Southern Italy"
  • Gwendolyn at Wine Predator:"Godfather 3: Comparing a Turley Zin from California with an Italian Primitivo

Additional sources used for this post:

  • The Oxford Companion via JancisRobinson.com
  • Winefolly.com 
  •  Guildsomm.com
  • The Origin of Zinfandel and Primitivo 
  • 7X7: Are Zinfandel and Primitivo the Same Wine? 
  • Sanluisobispo.com: Foremost Wine Co. and Tooth and Nail Winery owner Rob Murray talks about his new ventures 

 

 

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links, from which I might earn a commission at no cost to you.

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Somm's Table 2017