Wine Advice for your Barbecue Parties

Posted on 02 July 2009

By Tom Quinn

The team down at the Carry Out Off Licences in Bantry and Skibbereen have just finalised their special summer wine selection and I recently had an opportunity to sample some of the selection. Both of these stores have one of the biggest wine selections in the area and are always happy to suggest old favourites or highlight new arrivals for either the adventurous taster or budget conscious connoisseur.

The first wine featured in the summer line up is a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc called Casa De Tua.  This Sauvignon Blanc comes from a group of relatively small producers based just south of Chile’s central valley. It is full of citrus fruits and ripe tropical flavours including pineapple and melon. This fresh Sauvignon Blanc will be an ideal accompaniment to summer salads, seafood or grilled chicken.  It is on offer at €7.49 and at that price you will do well to find a better deal for the quality.

If you like your fresh whites you must also try Danzante Pinot Grigio, a Carry Out firm favourite for some time now. The Pinot Grigio grape is certainly flavour of the month at the moment with huge interest in this fresh crisp style.  If our summer weather keeps up this will be flying out the door, especially at the special offer price of €9.99.

Beringer Old Vine Zinfandel from California is the red wine of choice for all barbecues this summer. The ripened flavours and spicy character of the Old Vine Zinfandel will work really well with sticky barbecue sauces, meaty pork strips and burgers.

An ideal summer wine and one definitely worth treating yourself to, is this sparkler – Beringer White Zinfandel Sparkling Wine.  At under €15, Beringer delivers exceptional fruit quality that you will find in no other sparkling wine at that price point. Definitely the best of a bunch, in an increasingly popular sparkling wine selection.  Be sure to try a bottle at one of your barbecue parties this summer.