Red Zinfandel Wine

These wines burst with pride

Pinot noir is handy for outdoor parties. It is often a favorite for lots of drinkers, and is just about a perfect wine with food. It's light enough to pair with seafood and flavorful enough to hold up with something a bit heavier. Many pinots have a red fruit flavor that is delicious paired with a fruity glaze on chicken or chops.

It's just about impossible to go wrong with so many pretty summer whites available these days. Served chilled, they are awfully appealing on hot summer afternoons.

If you are cooking something really spicy, try something just a little bit sweet. Even if you don't ordinarily reach for a sweeter wine, a bit of sweetness is the perfect counterpoint for a fiery pepper sauce, curries, or Cajun seasoning. Try a riesling from Washington State, or a moscato from California.

If dinner is going to be a salad, sauvignon blanc has a distinct herbal and tart quality that makes it one of those rare wines that works well with vegetables and salads.

For fresh shellfish, such as shrimp or crab dipped in melted butter, a classic match is an American-style, buttery chardonnay. It's so good, it's worth hitting the gym to work off the calories from the butter.

It's a bit of poetic license to actually call these wines blue. But some grape varieties produce beautiful and intense wine that appears more blue-ish or deep purple than red.

When you are grilling something with powerful flavor, such as steaks or lamb, you want something that will stand up to the food. A personal favorite is petite sirah. Don't let the name fool you. There is nothing petite about this wine. It's often inky, and filled with blueberry and herbal flavors. It is produced widely in California, and even has a fan club, www.psiloveyou.org .

Another California cookout natural is charbono. It's produced in tiny quantities so it's harder to find, but it has a dedicated following, particularly among grillers who love this powerful plum and herbal wine with steaks.

Robert Foley, one of Charlotte's favorite producers, makes a terrific one. It's in the $30 range, but a good steak is a splurge, too.

Barbecued Tri Tip and Zinfandel « Wine Country Cook

When most of my girlfriends take mini-breaks with friends they go to Vegas or Tahoe or Italy. Not me. I go to the cabin in the middle of the boonies, where we eat, drink, chat, read and generally avoid any kind of labor.

This last trip, everyone had a different food thing going on. One friend was a temporary vegan, one was a permanent vegetarian, another a die-hard carnivore but currently not eating cheese, and me—well I’ll eat anything that doesn’t move faster than me.

Negotiating the menu was a little like brokering a Middle East peace plan. The one thing all of us could agree on was coffee. Or at least the three of us who drink coffee; the fourth is a tea person. How we fix our coffee is another story.

The coffee at the cabin is like no other. It is magical. I’m not sure if this is because it’s made in a percolator that takes about 30 minutes to complete the job or because most mornings I savor that first cup on the porch looking up the other side of the canyon where a brilliant array of trees meet the blue, blue sky.

I typically grind the coffee at the last minute before we leave and because it’s for a percolator I use a course grind. I always grind a lot out of fear of running out. Instead I always come home with a little leftover.

This last trip was no exception. It’s too coarse for my home coffee maker so I usually freeze it and then use it as a marinade for grilling—a trick I learned from my friend Mike Dashe of Dashe Cellars.

He taught me to use coffee as an ingredient for grilled meats. The coffee imparts a smoky, rich flavor and I’ve used it in all kinds of recipes, from red wine marinades to spicy rubs.

I’ve found this trick comes in handy for shortcut recipes like the one below. I mix store-bought barbecue sauce (Stubbs Original), red wine and ground coffee beans. This is especially great for trips to the cabin because I can combine these ingredients in a plastic bag, add a tri-tip and then toss into the cooler—all in a few minutes time. And, by the time I grill the tri tip a day or two later it’s soaked up all kinds of good flavor.

Barbecued Tri Tip Sea salt

Put the tri tip in a self-sealing bag and add the barbecue sauce, wine and coffee. Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat a gas grill to medium-high heat. Remove the tri tip from the refrigerator.

Pat the tri tip dry and put on the grill. Cook, covered, 6 minutes per side for medium rare. Transfer to a cutting board and let sit for 10 minutes. Slice against the grain using a sharp knife. Arrange on a plate and sprinkle with the sea salt. Serve.

California Wine For Dummies

Zinfandel, a history of a grape and its wine

Wine at Your Fingertips

A companion to California wine, an encyclopedia of wine and winemaking from the mission period to the present

Andrea Robinson's 2007 Wine Buying Guide for Everyone