WTN: Rioja and What is your Favorite steak wine?

Deep garnet red color. Intense nose of bing cherries and sweet vanilla oak. Balanced midpalate of sweet dark fruit, fine but grippy tannins and tangy acidity. Nice medium long finish of blackberries, tannins, acidity and some smokey oak. Nice medium bodied wine. Definitely new world style

Wine: 2005 Rioja La Montesa by Bodgeas Palacias Remondo 14% abv.

With food: Nice match with grilled ribeye. Best match was with a Hors d'ouvre that had a mushroom filling. Brought out the earthy fruit taste in the wine.

My favorite steak wines are new world cabernets and Spanish tempranillos, especially rioja reservas and grand reservas.

What is your favorite wine to match steak?

For steak? Zin or Pin.

Zinfandel or Pinotage -- great with braaied meat.

braaied.....only in sanorbens!!!

Bordeaux or Cal Cab.

Bordeaux, California Cabernet, or Northern Rhone/Rhonish New World Syrah. or a Chianti Classico Riserva.

[David M. Bueker]

Bordeaux

Quality cabernet from west coast (no goop, oak or high alcohol please) with steak. Bordeaux with lamb. Can drink a good N Rhone with either.
Walt

Perhaps because I like my red meat rare and my Bdx mature, I don't find that Bordeaux is a terribly good match for steak. My favorite steak wines are CalCabs, Ridge Zins and Syrah. A little tannin is helpful to me.

Mark Lipton

Rib Eye - aged Ridge Zins

Filet Mignon - left Bank Bordeaux or certain Cal Cabs (e.g., Ridge MB and Ch. Montelena).

Tom T.

Brunello di Montalcino with steak. Everything else is just mouthwash.

My favorite steak wines are new world cabernets and Spanish tempranillos, especially rioja reservas and grand reservas.

What is your favorite wine to match steak?

Tom, I don't like to pick favorites among my children nor my brothers! I really don't know if I have a favorite, but a nice CndP with a bit of age is really nice with my Christmas prime rib roast. Probably the fatter the roast, the more tannin I want so if the roast does have a lot of fat, I might go with a youngish (under 10 years) Bordeaux, or a nice Cal Cab maybe from Howell Mountain, Mayacamas comes to mind also. I could name a couple dozen, but can't name one.

Perhaps because I like my red meat rare and my Bdx mature, I don't find that Bordeaux is a terribly good match for steak. My favorite steak wines are CalCabs, Ridge Zins and Syrah. A little tannin is helpful to me.

Mark Lipton

I agree totally. I do not drink young Bordeaux and old ones get lost with a hunk of (infrequent) med rare beef. For some reason I do not have the same problem with lamb and that is when I drag out the best Bordeaux.
Walt

Cal Cab aged long enough (perhaps a decade) to integrate the tannins. Sometimes a Cabernet-Sauvignon/Merlot blend (maybe from Australia). Haven't really tried steak with Rioja Gran Reserva but I can see where that would be a good pairing. Maybe I'll do that the next time I'm ready to open a Gran Reserva.

Cal Cab for steak.

Well so far, here are the votes:

Cal Cab: 7
Bordeuax: 5
New World Cabs/Cab blends: 2
Syrah/Rhone/CdP: 4
Brunello: 1
Chianti: 1
Pinotage: 1
Tempranillo: 1

I like this lineup . I am not sure about Chianti and steak because I rarely drink them. But the rest seem to be good choices to me with the obvious provision for personal taste.

CDP or Ca cab

For steak? Zin or Pin.

Zinfandel or Pinotage -- great with braaied meat.

Unbelievable - that was my answer too

Tom,

You might think my favourite would be a hybrid, but no, it is in fact Pinotage, followed closely by a good hearty Zin - same as Peter's reply.

Pinotage is my top choice, mainly because I like to go all out when I grill, and vastly prefer grilling over either hardwood (caveat: can't really do this in the city) or coals + woodchips, as opposed to gas. I have done this on a few occasions over a half-drum homemade braai, and so the South African motif was very much in place. Kanonkop Pinotage is my go-to wine during such cookouts.

That said, with grilling and barbecueing being such a significant part of our culture over here, Zin is also a great choice: it's got the density and fullness to stand up to a hearty beefsteak.

And if you're wondering, then I'd say that our Ontario red hybrid wines are pretty much interchangeable with Northern Italian reds for me, i.e. good with roasts, stews, lasagna, pizza, etc.

I generally go Cal Cab, but have no problems with younger Bordeaux. For that matter, Burgundy is one of the best beef areas in France, and a young Nuits or Gevrey does fine. Similarly, if we do Bistecca alla Fiorentina, I can do Brunello or CCR.

Pinotage is my top choice, mainly because I like to go all out when I grill, and vastly prefer grilling over either hardwood (caveat: can't really do this in the city) or coals + woodchips, as opposed to gas. I have done this on a few occasions over a half-drum homemade braai, and so the South African motif was very much in place. Kanonkop Pinotage is my go-to wine during such cookouts.

Hi Paul,

I like pinotage myself but have never have had it with steak. I have a Graham Beck 2005 pinotage in my cellar that was gift from a friend. What do think of his pinotages? And, do you think it would go with steak?

Hi Paul,

I like pinotage myself but have never have had it with steak. I have a Graham Beck 2005 pinotage in my cellar that was gift from a friend. What do think of his pinotages? And, do you think it would go with steak?

Hiya Tom!

I posted a note on this very wine, and you can read it right here.

In general, I find Pinotage to go exceptionally well with beef in all its forms, and especially with steak.

I agree with Dale's Burgundy suggestion. Gevrey, Volnay and Santenay all work very well with tender, lightly seasoned steaks.

Paul - Times being what they are, I've become a big fan of South African Pinotage and Sauvignon Blanc. People may chuckle, but the Sebeka Sauvignon Blanc from S.A. is hard to beat at about seven bucks a bottle.

I agree with Dale's Burgundy suggestion. Gevrey, Volnay and Santenay all work very well with tender, lightly seasoned steaks.

Hi Sam,

My brother Bob claims that a good burgundy goes well with steak. I think if you have a good burg it just might work as long as the steak isn't too fatty. The acidic core of a good burg should stand up well to a nice stip loin. I am going to have to try that some time. However, my general preference in steaks runs toward the fatty side, rib or ribeye .

I agree with Dale's Burgundy suggestion. Gevrey, Volnay and Santenay all work very well with tender, lightly seasoned steaks.

Hi Sam,

My brother Bob claims that a good burgundy goes well with steak. I think if you have a good burg it just might work as long as the steak isn't too fatty. The acidic core of a good burg should stand up well to a nice stip loin. I am going to have to try that some time. However, my general preference in steaks runs toward the fatty side, rib or ribeye .

Good Burgundy goes well with anyhing. Having said that I would still go with a CA Cab with a grilled ribeye for the reasons you mention. Dale will drink any good wine with anything, he is easy.
Walt

What is your favorite wine to match steak?

Tom, One of my favorite matches with steak recently was actually a Piedmonte Nebbiolo with a nearly 2 inch thick steak cooked in a fireplace at a great little place up the mountain from Arenzano in Italy. Normally I would probably follow the general rule of Cal Cab, Zin, or a hearty PN but you know I like to break all the traditional rules