Like coffee and cream, like orange and chocolate, like Lucy and Desi, steak and red wine make a great pair.
And in Colorado, where great beef is grown, the two are a natural couple.
But just as every wine has a unique flavor, so does every cut of steak. A ribeye is not a tenderloin, a T-bone is not a strip.
If you’re happy throwing a sirloin on the grill and popping a fruity zinfandel – steak-and-wine-pairing 101 – that’s perfectly fine. But if you’d like to know a little more about how to team a beautiful wine with a manly steak, then come with me.
Our town was awash in wine and the experts who accompany the divine grape last week while Durango hosted its ninth Wine Experience. The three-day festival of eating, drinking and partying is a blast – what could be more fun than walking down Main Avenue with a wineglass in your hand and local stores readily filling it? Yet all the fun has a purpose beyond having a good time, as all the profits go to the local United Way.
If you’re looking for affirmation that steak and zin are a great combination, look no further than Michael Lutfy, chef and co-owner of Chimayo Stone Fired Kitchen and all-around bon vivant. (He and wife, Birgitte, were out trying snacks, vino and a little shopping at There’s No Place Like Home during the Walk About on Friday night.)
“I really love big, bold zins with steak,” he said. “I’m partial to that.”
The most basic rule of thumb for seeking the proper balance between meat and grape is to first consider the fat content of the steak. Serving a highly marbled ribeye, one of the steer’s fattiest cuts? Go as big as you like with the wine, accompanying it with a traditional cabernet sauvignon from either the New World or the Old.
In a pairing seminar held at The Ore House, that’s just what chef Cliff Bornheim and visiting sommelier Patrick Laguens did, offering four different cabs to taste with each of four types of steak. The consensus of the sold-out crowd of food and wine experts and interested locals landed on a Santa Carolina Reserva de Familia, a carménère from Chile, whose strong tannins and noticeable spiciness cut through the richness of the prime-grade steak. (I demurred, finding the single varietal overpowering even for red meat.)
In contrast to the opulent ribeye, Ore House owner and chef Ryan Lowe brought out a dry-aged New York strip to end the tasting. It had been left to hang in a light- and humidity-controlled environment for 28 days before being lightly seared, seasoned with salt and pepper and served.
“The loin has a nutty, gamey, earthy flavor you can’t get from wet-aged beef,” Bornheim said.
The sheer meaty flavor was so satisfying, you almost didn’t need the wine. But why not gild the lily? An Old World wine in both provenance and style, a malbec from Château de Cénac near Bordeaux, matched the steak wonderfully with its dark but streamlined flavors, especially after more than an hour in the glass.
We don’t usually just eat steak, however, and it would be a major error to ignore the other things on our plate when choosing which wine to go with a meal.
“It’s never just meat and wine, because that’s not how you serve,” said Mahogany Grille manager Aaron Brandes. “I focus on the side dishes and the sauces.”
Say you’re serving that special occasion favorite, filet mignon. While tenderloin is indeed tender, it’s low in fat, so Brandes suggests finishing it with a Béarnaise sauce or a blueberry reduction and pairing it with a wine such as a soft syrah.
One of his favorite food and wine combinations is mushrooms – a marvelous topping for steak sauteed in just plain ol’ butter or elevated with a touch of cream – and pinot noir, especially from Burgundy. The mustiness of the mushrooms and the earthiness of the meat blend with the umami aspect of the wine to make a perfect pairing.
And while it’s heresy to admit it here in Colorado, even if we’re eating red meat, it isn’t always steak. Some days a girl is in the mood for well … a meatball. If it’s served in a simple marinara sauce, it goes stunningly well with a Chianti, which is made from the sangiovese grape. The smooth fruit and medium finish balance out the tang of the tomato sauce.
If you’re braising beef with wine and vegetables for a stew, Susan Devereaux of Guido’s Favorite Foods recommends a light but flavorful red like barbera d’Alba. Should you stray from beef in the spring and summer when local lamb is available – don’t worry, you’ll be forgiven – she favors complementing the slightly gamey taste of a shank with a big, deep amarone.
And when you return to the heavenly meatiness that is a char-grilled steak, as you inevitably will, nothing could be finer than the queen of Italian wines, brunello di Montalcino. Its dark fruit flavors and weighty, winey finish on the tongue complement a variety of steak styles.
“I love wine,” Devereaux says in her usually impassioned way. “Have fun with it, try new things, maybe some very dry sparkling wines with a hot barbecue. The bubbles help everything.”
No arguing with that. Wine is a festival in a bottle, a party by itself, a bonanza with food and loved ones. Sir Thomas Moore had it right when he waxed poetic about the grape centuries ago: “What thought youth gave love and roses, age still leaves us wine and friends.”
Who needs anything more?
phasterok@durangoherald.com
