Wines for Steak

photo: Eric Diesel

The solstice is still a few weeks away, but everyone knows that Memorial Day is the first official weekend of summer. In New York City, crowds swell Grand Central and Penn Stations to near-capacity as early as Tuesday, as weekend home owners rush to open their properties upstate or on Long Island for the summer. Some weekenders have even farther to go -- the Adirondacks, the Finger Lakes, the Pennsylvania hills. And some of us travel farthest of all, to second homes -- even new ones -- on the opposite coast.

Non-weekend homebodies capitalize on the long weekend as well. Saturday morning is a great time to spruce up the home before summer kicks into high gear, and there will still time to catch a flick at the local art house followed by dinner at a favorite bistro. Such Saturday nights are the essence of good living -- from the perspective of that red checkered tablecloth, the work week could not be further away. Sunday will bring invitations to holiday cookouts, and if we're guesting rather than hosting, we don't want to show up empty-handed. An easily served dessert such as cookies or fruit salad will be welcome, but how about also bringing a couple of bottles of wine?

Writing about food-wine pairings evokes a torrent of opinion unlike any other. Wine drinkers are passionate about their pour, and the more they are pouring, the more expansive the expression of their passion may become. It is in the essence of the grape: from ancient altars to the communion cup, wine has always been a sacred beverage. This is due to the grape's transformation, through fermentation, into a substance that induces an altered state of consciousness.

Pairing wines with steak off of the Memorial Day grill exposes the avocational wine captain to scrutiny not just about their level of knowing but their very tastebuds. My suggestions for wines to serve with steak are below, but before we get to them, it's beneficial to review the conventional wisdom about this pairing. Like most protocols involving steak, the fundamental considerations are the cut, the grade and the preparation of the beef. As a rule, finer cuts demand deeper wines, which is then cross-referenced with doneness and subdivided by the sauce if any. The classic pairing for simple grilled steaks is a California Cabernet Sauvignon. This is because this manly pour, well-expressed in that way that seems to be second nature to Golden State vintners, compliments the flavors and textures of a medium-rare steak, which are intense but simple at the same time. A richer cut, such as a T-bone, can withstand the richer profile of a Syrah, and most beef, including burgers, agrees with Malbec.

If you're at the steakhouse, your steward may recommend Rioja, Beaujolais or Burgundy, but with a few exceptions I like to serve California wines, so that is what you will encounter below. These recommendations are for red wines as befits the menu, but it not unheard of to pair red meat with white wine. In fact, many believe that at least one dish demands it. Steak tartare, whose richness is meant to be the ultimate expression of the cow’s generosity and the chef’s skill, is frequently paired with a clean white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc. Try New Zealand ’s workhorse Babich, whose exceptional balance gives a platform to the delicate poetry of pear, melon, lime and wet stones. At least one carnivore of my acquaintance expresses their aesthete by preparing the most decadent tartare and their oenophile by serving it -- again not without precedent -- with brut Champagne.

If you drink Cabernet Sauvignon, you have encountered the phrase, and possibly the bottle, “California cult cab,” referring to a wine that is known to a small, devoted collection of drinkers. One such is Atticus John Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, which spun out of the Napa Valley a few years ago from a vintner whose curatorial juice usually goes – deservedly -- for over a hundred bucks a bottle. This cab, however, is friendly to wallet, taste buds and rare beef. Deep notes of cherry and black pepper open to a fruit-filled middle and a hefty finish that perfectly echoes the char off of a red-hot iron grate. This wine illustrates why Cabernet Sauvignon is the steakhouse pick for pairing with their cuts. Serve it with porterhouse, flatiron or flank. What’s left of this small bottling is available online, but don’t be afraid to ask for it at your local wine shop – like many cult cabs, it may be in stock but not on display.

A trip to the Hitching Post was de rigeur when we visited Central Coast wine country last year, and so was the bottle of red with which we washed down the Post’s famous magic-dusted steaks. The Hitching Post bottles its own reds under the sure hands of Gray Hartley and Frank Ostini, the partners who led the Pinor Noir revolution and helped put Santa Barbara wine country on the movie map. Hartley Ostini Hitching Post Highliner is the exemplary bottle of this grape as it is expressed in these rolling green hills. Highliner lands in the glass as shapely and directioned as the fishing vessel for which it is named, with a gorgeous garnet color and the perfect balance between fruit and oak. While you’re at it, don’t neglect Hartley Ostini Hitching Post Cork Dancer – their “weekday pinot.” This bottling is less assertive than the Highliner but more coy, with a flowery nose and a curvy middle. Serve Cork Dancer with filet and serve Highliner with ribeye, chuck or burgers.

I was introduced to Loring Wine Company Pinot Noir Russian River Valley 2009 by the wine director at Commerce, who urged me to try a glass with their exemplary Steak Diane. I never argue with sommeliers, and certainly not at this favorite restaurant, and this pour is a reason why. This California winery is another with a cult following, and like most such opinion of its juice can be divided. Some believe that the winemakers overly manipulate the process, with imbalance as the result. Fair enough, but I love this complex, lyrical wine.  It displays a depth of core that stands up to steak’s assertive character, while an intense nose of raspberry, currant and just a touch of spice does a nice dance with the sauce. Serve with filet or strip dressed in sauce. I was delighted to learn that this wine, which can be difficult to locate, is in stock at the venerable Chelsea Wine Vault; for those outside of New York City, they do mail orders to locales that allow shipping of wine.

Perhaps the hardest fit for steak is a good all-around wine. I don't know if the vintners at Line 39 intended to take on this challenge, but in their Petite Sirah North Coast 09 they have come up with a serious contender. This is the rich, velvety pour that you would expect from this grape, without the inky quality that can capsize the experience. In evicting the medicinal quality that this wine can evidence, the winemakers achieve a bouquet intensely perfumed with cherry and smoke, with a forceful crash of fruit on the palate and a lingering tobacco finish. Some will call it jammy, but I don't always deduct points for that, and I think that the wine's fruit flavors are what make it such a versatile contribution to the cookout.  This wine retails for around ten bucks a bottle, so bring a few and pour liberally from them to compliment just about anything that's coming off of the grate and to the compliments that the other guests will be writing in their cellar books when they get home.