Red meat
🍖 What wine goes with bbq ribs?
Barbecue sauce is sweet, smoky, acidic and often a little spicy, and it matters more than the pork underneath. That sweetness is the thing to solve for: a bone-dry red tastes sour next to a sticky glaze no matter how good the bottle is.
Smoke, fat and sugar in one mouthful. You need ripe fruit to meet the sauce, enough acidity to cut the fat, and moderate tannin — enough for the meat, not so much that the chilli in the rub takes over.
The best matches
Zinfandel
About this grapeThe classic American answer and hard to beat. Jammy brambly fruit with a touch of residual sugar meets the glaze exactly, and the peppery finish picks up the rub.
Shiraz
About this grapeBarossa Shiraz specifically: opulent, slightly sweet-fruited and smoky in its own right. Smoked meat and smoky wine is one of the few times doubling down works better than contrast.
Malbec
About this grapeDark plum, violets and soft tannin, from a country that grills more beef than anywhere else. Excellent with beef ribs in particular, where the meat needs more grip than pork does.
Negroamaro
About this grapeThe value pick. Puglian reds bring ripe dark fruit and a bitter-savoury finish that stops the sauce becoming cloying, usually for half the price of the Californian option.
What to avoid
Elegant, structured, expensive reds. Barolo or fine Bordeaux with barbecue sauce is a waste of both — the sweetness makes a serious wine taste sour and stripped.
One thing to keep in mind
Chill the red to about 15°C. Barbecue is usually eaten outdoors in warm weather, and a Zinfandel at ambient temperature tastes like alcohol and jam.
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