5 Rules for Pairing Wine With Barbecue

Beer and barbecue are natural bedfellows. But what about wine? Wine critic and James Beard Award-winning author, Jordan Mackay, shares five tips for pairing wine with brisket and more barbecue.

Jordan Mackay co-authored Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto with the restaurant's Austin-based pitmaster Aaron Franklin. The book is a great success — a rare cookbook that bounded onto both The New York Times and Amazon bestseller lists — but it stops short of recommending the best wine for barbecue.

All the more strange, since Mackay has primarily made his career by writing about wine. But as he said when I spoke to him, "Aaron's not really a wine drinker. He loves beer." Fair enough.

Regardless, since Mackay is by self-definition a wine drinker, here's what he has to say about wine and barbecue (specifically Texas barbecue, i.e. beef brisket, which is what the book is about):

Rule No. 1: Skip the Zin

"Everyone talks about Zinfandel and barbecue, but I've never had much success with it, especially brisket. Brisket is so rich, so heavy, and it has this dense meatiness. What I like best with it is northern Rhône-style Syrah, whether an Hermitage or Côte-Rôtie, or something like Wind Gap from Northern California."

Rule No. 2: Try contrast, too

"Then there's Pinot. With brisket, you'd think you'd need something big and heavy. But the right Pinot Noir — particularly ones from Oregon — can be great with both brisket and ribs. It's like a boxing match. The brisket is the big heavyweight, but the wiry, quick guy can really stand up to the heavyweight."

Related: 17 Best Pinot Noirs for $25 or Less

Rule No. 3: Avoid oak

"A lot of people will say an oaky wine goes well with barbecue, that the smoke and the oak barrel toastiness match up. I don't agree. With smoke, the best pairing is a wine with rich fruit."

Rule No. 4: Don't worry about tannins

"When it comes to pairing wine and barbecue, the tannins don't make as much of a difference as you'd think. Really good barbecue is fall-off-the-bone tender; you don't need the tannic grip in the wine that you would with a steak, for instance."

Rule No. 5: Don't forget the dang pig

"Everything I've just said also applies to pork ribs."

Though he lives in San Francisco, Mackay has his Texas bonafides down; his family moved to Texas when he was eight, and he spent the majority of his life in Austin. But even that — and even co-authoring the book with Aaron Franklin — doesn't allow him to skip the famous four-hour line at Franklin's.

"Aaron's literally one of the nicest guys I've ever met," Mackay says, "but he has so much respect for his customers and the lengths they go to eat his food that I'd never ask that of him. You turn waiting in line into a really fun activity. You set up some lawn chairs, bring a cooler full of beer, and just have a good time."

Or wine, Mr. Mackay. A cooler full of wine.

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