|
|
|
ONLINE FEATURES
Book Reviews
BW Video
Columnists
Interactive Gallery
Newsletters
Past Covers
Philanthropy
Podcasts
Special Reports
BLOGS
The Auto Beat
Byte of the Apple
Europe Insight
Eye on Asia
Getting In
Investing Insights
The New Entrepreneur
NEXT: Innovation Tools & Trends
On Media
Technology at Work
The Tech Beat
Traveler's Check
TECHNOLOGY
Product Reviews
Tech Stats
Hands On
AUTOS
Home Page
Auto Reviews
Car Care & Safety
INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip FINANCE Investing: Europe Annual Reports Bloomberg BW50 SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth Companies: 2008 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs Rankings & Profiles |  |
JULY 2, 2007
By Robert Parker Fruity Wines That Love A Good Barbecue Most people serve beer at a barbecue. But the right wine can transform a humble hamburger into a special meal. Barbecue wines should be inexpensive, immensely fruity, largely un-oaked, and have loads of red and black fruit. In the best cases, the wine has more personality than you would expect for the price. Although some will stay for two or three years, most are meant to be enjoyed now. Here are some of my favorites from around the world. Hugues Beaulieu 2006 Picpoul de Pinet 87 points. An absolutely delicious light-bodied, tank-fermented and -aged white. Crisp grapefruit, lemon, and lime notes jump from the glass. This wine is a perfect match for grilled seafood or chicken. $9 Guigal 2005 Cotes du Rhône 89 points. A blend of 50% syrah, 40% grenache, and 10% mourvèdre, this wine is an amazing value with terrific texture, a deep ruby/purple color, loads of cassis, black cherry, licorice, and spice. It is an all-purpose red with enormous crowd appeal. $12 Georges Duboeuf 2005 Fleurie Flower Label 87 points. Duboeuf is the emperor of Beaujolais, and this one has a beautiful, spicy taste of black cherries and an expansive mouthfeel. It is a fruit-forward crowd-pleaser. $12 Thorn-Clarke 2005 Shiraz Terra Barossa 91 points. This is a heady, full-flavored, inky-purple wine that saturates the mouth. It will stand up to just about anything you throw on the grill and will deliver plenty of fruit no matter how much mustard, ketchup, horseradish, or spice you put on the dish. $13 Cavas El Cep Marques de Gelida Brut Exclusive Sparkling White (2002 or 2003) 90 points. This Spanish sparkler offers plenty of yeasty brioche, apple skin, and white peach characteristics. It's a perfect palate-cleanser, and an absolute steal. $14 Les Garrigues 2005 Côtes du Rhône Cuvée Romaine 90 points. Made mainly from old-vine grenache, this is an inky-purple-colored wine with a knockout perfume of melted licorice, roasted meats, black cherries, and jam. Hints of roasted herbs and smoky, meaty notes make it an ideal wine for grilled foods. $15 Falesco 2005 Merlot dell'Umbria 89 points. If you're grilling steak in the Florentine style (brushed with olive oil), select a wine from central Italy such as this merlot. It boasts a deep ruby/purple color and a big sweet nose that includes mocha, espresso roast, and loads of black cherry fruit. $16 Monti 2005 Montepulciano d'Abruzzi 89 points. This wine is a perfect match for charcoal and wood-fired food, because it tastes as if it emerged from scorched earth. It displays an inky-purple color and huge, almost volcanic notes of fire, roasted meat, licorice, and truffles. $16 Caggiano 2004 Aglianico Arpinia Tauri Campania 88 points. This wine from southern Italy seems to have been created to be enjoyed with outdoor cooking. A dense ruby/purple-colored wine, it has loads of sweet black fruits mixed with charcoal, spice, and a hint of mint. $17 Wines rated from 96-100 are extraordinary; 90-95, excellent; 80-89, above average to very good  Robert Parker is the world's most influential wine critic. Visit www.eRobertParker.com to see tens of thousands of tasting notes, buy his books, or subscribe to his newsletter, The Wine Advocate. Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
 Copyright 2007, Bloomberg L.P.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version