Try serving wine at a tailgate party or while watching the big game on your 42-inch flat-screen and your average football fan friend is likely to call you an effete snob. And then go back to guzzling wan, tasteless light beer.
How to get around this? Serve manly, muscular wines.
If you're a Saints fan, you might be cooking spicy Cajun barbecue shrimp
laced with garlic and cayenne.
As for Colts fans, I Googled “Indiana'' and “tailgate food'' and came up with “Wazzu Indiana Tailgate Chili'' with habanero and jalapeno chiles, cayenne, black pepper and Tabasco sauce. Whoo!
Here are half a dozen wines that can stand up to a 400-pound lineman:
ø‚2007 Mettler Fam
ily Vineyards îEpicen
ter' Lodi Old-Vine Zin
fandel: A perfect match
for spicy food, this is huge,
with 15.6 percent alcohol.
It's big and warm and rich,
with black raspberry and
spicy black pepper flavors
and big but ripe tannins.
$25. (Highly recom
mended.)
ø‚2007 Fess Parker
White Riesling, Santa
Barbara County: A muscu
lar white wine? Well, it's
not really so muscular. But
it has a hint of sweetness,
which is a wonderful thing
with spicy food. It has fla
vors of golden apples and
nuts, with good crisp
acids. If you roast a pig at
your tailgate party, this is
your quaff. And, yes, the
winery is owned by the
actor who used to portray
Davy Crockett. Probably
goes with b'ar meat. $12.
(Highly recommended.)
ø‚2007 Albarino
Brandal by Adegas D'Al
tamira, Rias Baixas, Spain:
Yes, another white wine.
The Galicians of north
west Spain drink this with
octopus, so it'll certainly
handle your grilled
shrimp. It's crisp, has
intense grapefruit flavors
and a slightly bitter
almond finish. $15. (Highly
Recommended.)
ø‚2006 San Leonino
Chianti Classico, DOCG:
The Italians drink this
with those three-pound
Tuscan steaks they lace
with rosemary and grill to
perfection. It's full-bodied,
with powerful black
cherry flavors and muscu
lar tannins. $20. (Recom
mended.)
ø‚2005 Mazzocco
Petite Sirah, Aguilera, Dry
Creek Valley: Petit sirahs
are famous for their mus
cle. If you bagged a wild
boar or even just a deer for
your tailgate party, this is
your wine. It tastes like
black cherries and licorice,
with powerful acids and
tannins. $35. (Recom
mended).
ø‚2007 Kendall-
Jackson Syrah, Calif.:
Syrahs are a little like zin
fandels … big, rich and
almost sweet, great with
spicy food. This one has
black plum and cinnamon
flavors and big but ripe
tannins. $14. (Recom
mended.)
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