What Wine Goes With Steak

Cuts Of Steak With Wine Pairings

To wrap things up, heres a quick overview of the best wines with steak.

So now that you have a better idea of how to pair these four major steak cuts, it’s time for the best part, experimenting with different combinations. Fortunately, it’s hard to go wrong with steak and wine you’re bound to have a pleasant dining experience.

What Kind Of Wine Goes With Steak And Lobster

Steak and lobster are two of the most popular dishes at the restaurant. A good Sauvignon Blanc will suffice. In the event that you are not a fan of white wine and would rather drink red, look for a red wine that is light in body and has low tannin levels. A Pinot Noir would be a nice option in this situation.

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Does Pinot Noir Pair With Steak

Is Pinot Noir a good pairing with steak? Due to the light to medium-bodied nature of most Pinot Noir wines, they are frequently combined with lighter meats and seafood. However, depending on the flavor of steak and the cut of meat, Pinot Noirs inherent acidity and vivid, red berry fruit might complement your steak supper.

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How You Cook Your Steak Matters

Believe it or not, how you enjoy your steak cooked makes a difference in the type of red wine that will pair best with it.

Rare steaks will lessen the tannins in a dry red wine and make it more mellow. Well-done or charred steaks have a natural bitterness to them which will require a sweeter, fruitier wine to balance it out.

Take a look at some general recommendations I have for popular cuts of steak and their best red wine pairings:

• Ribeye: Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Bordeaux
• Brisket: Shiraz, Malbec, Zinfandel
• Filet Mignon: Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot
• New York Strip: Cabernet, Zinfandel
• Porterhouse: Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot

Primer On Steak Classifications

There are only three of eight USDA grades of beef you would usually find in a restaurant or store: Prime, Choice and Select. Were you to consider this in a wine-like hierarchy à la Frances Burgundy, Prime would be Grand Cru, Choice would be Premier Cru and Select would be village wine.

Two factors count in dividing meat into these categories: the fat marbling and the age of the cow. The younger and fattier the cow, the better the meat. Fat gives flavor while youth gives tenderness. Choice and Select could be considered healthier, if less flavorful.

Grocery stores tend to carry Choice and Select steak cuts. Restaurants and premium retailers usually snatch up Prime pieces. This is one of the reasons that slab at your favorite steakhouse tastes different from the one you make at home. Fierceness of heat and secret seasonings also make a difference.

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Best Wine With New York Strips

Sometimes called Kansas City strips, these are popular choices to eat at restaurants. A full-bodied red wine with dark fruit flavors will complement a well-seasoned grilled strip. Pick a wine that has high alcohol, tannin levels & acidity to help cut through the fat of the steak. Our favorite combination is a dry aged New York strip paired with a Napa Valley cab.

The Seasoning On The Steak

The amount and type of seasoning can also play a pretty important role in your selection of what wine to go with steak. Here is a framework for pairing wine with steaks that different flavoring:

• Salt and Pepper Flavoring This one is easy. Steaks with simple salt and pepper seasoning can actually be paired with any wine.
• Sweet Flavoring Sweet flavoring on the steak means you should find a sweet wine to pair it with. We want to match the richness on your palate.
• Heavily-seasoned or Spiced Meats Again, we should match our wine to the seasoning on the steak. So in this scenario, we should pair steak with bold spices with a robust or spicy red wine.

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What Wine Goes Best With Steak The Best Explanation

The rule of thumb when pairing with steak is to choose dry red wines leaner cuts of meat pair with lighter wines, while richer, fattier cuts pair up with high tannin wines that have a higher alcohol content.

For example, if you want to pair a steak with a red wine like Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon, youll want a wine that has a low alcohol level. If youre looking for a more robust wine, such as Merlot or Pinot Grigio, its a good idea to go with one thats higher in alcohol.

• Which wine is best with ribeye steak?

General Rules Of Steak And Wine Pairing

Before we dive into each wine, there are a few basic rules to help guide your decision.

First, red wines tend to pair better with steaks than white wines. This is mainly because red wines tend to have higher tannins than white wines, which helps release the steaks flavor by dissolving the fat. However, there are some exceptions. For example, chardonnays also have relatively high tannins.

In addition to choosing a wine with high tannins, choosing one with a slightly higher alcohol concentration will also add to the bold flavor. For example, zinfandel red wines are known for being bold and have a slightly higher alcohol concentration level of about 14 to 17 percent ABV.

However, if you have a lighter steak, like a filet, you can generally go with a more fruity wine with a slightly lighter body.

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Think Bold & Fatty Lean & Light

Full-bodied red wines with a higher acidity are best for fatty cuts of steak like filet mignon, Porterhouse, Delmonico, Ribeye, or New York Strip. The high-acidity and high-tannin levels are important to counteract and balance with the fat content of the meat.

On the other hand, leaner cuts of meat pair best with lighter-bodied wines.

How To Pair Steak With White Wine

Theres an age-old myth that says white wine and steak do not work well together. But wine and food pairings are subjective. If you prefer white wine over red, look for one with good tannin and acid content to balance out the rich textures of the steak. Here are some great recommendations from the Jacques Scott Wines & Spirits staff:

Chardonnay

Many white wines cannot stand up to red meat, but Chardonnay is an exception. If you are firing up the barbecue for a grilled steak, look for lightly-oaked smoky or nutty Chardonnays and those with a natural acidity that can cut through the juiciness and fattiness of the meat. We heartily recommend the award-winning 2016 Bodegas Salentein Chardonnay from the Uco Valley in Mendoza, Argentina.

Sauvignon Blanc/Sancerre

An unexpected wine choice to pair with steak is a highly acidic Sauvignon Blanc or cool Sancerre . The fruitiness and aromatic intensity are well-suited to grilled meats. Try the divine Pascal Jolivet Sancerre Blanc from Loire, France.

Champagne

Pair leaner cuts of beef, such as sirloin tips and top sirloin, with a light or medium-bodied champagne that has acidic qualities like that of a red wine that will cut through the texture of the meat. Consider a bottle of the award-winning Roederer Brut Premier from Champagne, France.

Riesling

Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio

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Why Is Wine Served With Steak

Wine and steak are among the classic pairings in the fine dining setting. But why do most high-class restaurants serve these two combinations together?

The reason why wine is served with steak is that they balance out the flavors of each other. The acidity of the wine and the fat from the steak goes well together.

It also helps that wine has tannins which help the fats to break down and release much purer flavors from the beef. It lessens the number of fatty acids on the palate and makes the meat more tender to the taste.

The steak, on the other hand, helps with the astringency of the wine. It helps minimize the bitter flavors from the fermentation. You can elevate your fine dining experience to a new level through the blend of wine and steak.

However, how can we know the best wine to go with steak? Lets dive deeper and get into the nitty-gritty of the steak and wines combo.

Why Is Red Wine Good With Steak

If youre not a connoisseur of wine, you probably have heard that rule that red wine is perfect with red meat and whites are excellent with fish.

To keep it short, steak goes with red wine because molecules called tannins soften the meats fat to release its flavor.

This fat then mellows the wines astringency, releasing more of its fruit flavors.

We end up here with a win-win situation for both: the tannin in the wine is softening the steak, and the steaks fat is chilling the wine.

The idea is to pair bold dishes with bold wines. That is why we assigned you to Cabernet Sauvignon.

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Tip : Steak Lover What Is Your Favorite Wine

Wine pairings are best thought of as an invitation. Wine snobs might tell you differently, but the subjective taste and preference count for much in life. If you love drinking Pinot Grigio with steak, then go ahead and enjoy it! However, if you are looking for some variety in your wine experience, give the suggestions below a try.

Now that you have the general tips to guide you lets look at wine with steak pairings.

Rioja Is The Best Wine Pairing With Steak

Perhaps its a recent trip to Spain thats given me the Rioja bug, but Ive currently been loving this red wine and firmly believe its one of the best matches for steak. Rioja is made in the northern region of Rioja, Spain, and is a blend of a few different kinds of red grapes its mostly Tempranillo mixed with some Garnacha and often a couple of other common Spanish red grapes varietals.

Rioja is separated into four levels of classification that are based on how long the wine is aged before its sold. For steak, Crianza Rioja and Reserva Rioja are your best bets. Both have been aged for at least a couple of years, which means theyll be medium-bodied and balanced. Since these are in the middle of the classification spectrum, it also means theyre pretty affordable.

You can pick up a high-quality Crianza or a Reserva Rioja for under $20 at most wine shops and feel confident its going to pair really well with your steak. Like the best California Cab, they both have lots of fruitiness and tannins, with toasted, almost meaty notes from being aged in oak barrels. Yet, they dont come with the same price tag and its just a little different than whats expected, which is always fun.

4 Bottles of Rioja Under $20 to Try

• El Coto Rioja Crianza Rioja, $10.95
• Marques De Caceres Crianza Rioja, $14.95
• Campo Viejo Reserva Rioja, $15.99
• Marques De Riscal Reserva Rioja, $19.95

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Barolo And Ribeye Steak Pairing

One of the most memorable scenes from Rocky is when he is in the meat freezer, punching away at a frozen slab of cow. Pairing Barolo and Ribeye Steak evokes the same feeling, as if youve ever cracked open a bottle of Barolo before its like getting punched in the face.

The tannin in Barolo is notoriously heavy! Barolo is a wine that is meant to be aged for two decades before it is even ready to be drank. But when paired with Ribeye steak, a young Barolo can be enjoyed, as not all of us are patient enough to wait twenty years for this wine to age.

The fat and protein softens the tannin, allowing Barolos blackberry, cherry and plum flavours to shine through. Youll also get lovely notes of truffle, cocoa, licorice, leather, tar and tobacco, which make this combination fit for a king.

Once again, youll want your Ribeye steak to be cooked around the medium range, as thats when this steak is at its most flavourful. When you cook a steak to well-done, you lose a lot of flavour as the fat has been cooked out. In this instance, a properly aged Barolo will pair up quite nicely, however, many people consider cooking a Ribeye steak to the point of well-done a punishable crime.

Best Wines To Pair With Ribeye Steak

Beefy Juiciness

Sometimes known as entrecote or scotch fillet, the ribeye is one of the worlds most popular beefsteaks. It comes from a muscle called Longissimus Dorsi, which runs down the spine, responsible for giving a delicious tender texture. That said, what really gives ribeye the edge over other steaks is the fat running through the meat. When cooked, it melts into the steak, creating an irresistible beefy flavor and a juicy texture. Its from this eye of fat in the middle that ribeye takes its name.

Ribeye comes anywhere from the 6th down to the 12th rib. Where it comes from shows how it should be cooked. The most common cut is the center cut since it contains a nice amount of fat. Next, there are the end cuts, chuck, and short loin. The chuck end has the greatest amount of fat, so it turns out superbly juicy. On the other hand, the short loin has little fat, preferred by people on a diet. Additionally, you can purchase a ribeye attached to the bone, such as the Tomahawk steak.

Cooking Ribeye Steak

Preparing ribeye steak is easier than it seems. In fact, it is a simple process. For starters, season the steak with sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme or oregano, and a bit of vegetable oil or butter. Then, place the steak on a hot coal fire and cook to medium-rare or medium. Aim to give the fat enough time to render down, flavor the meat, and produce an extra juicy result.

What Wines Pair Well With Ribeye Steak?

Cabernet Sauvignon

Zinfandel

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Best Wine With Steak Pairings

Treat yourself with a glass of wine and sizzling steak at Downtown Chandler Steak House. Why does wine pair so well with steak? The tannins in wine soften the fat in meat and amplify the flavor. In turn, the fat in meat brings out the fruit flavor in wine.

A balanced tannin and fat content makes an ideal wine with steak pairing. Red wine is more popular because it is more tannic, but the acids in white wine create a similar process that also highlights the flavor of steak.

Whether you prefer red wine or white, youre sure to have a flavorful meal when you pair a glass of wine with your favorite steak. Not sure which wine to choose? Weve compiled this list of the best wine with steak pairings just for you!

What Wine Goes Best With Ribeye Steaks

Ribeye is the juiciest, most flavorful cut of steak. As the name implies, it comes from the rib region. Generally, ribeyes pair well with full-bodied, unabashedly intense wines. Many chefs and sommeliers recommend pairing a California zinfandel with ribeye for one of the best wine with steak pairings.

Zinfandels characteristically bold spiciness and high acidity make it a fitting match for a ribeye. A cabernet sauvignon is another great choice, as the high tannins help cut through the juiciness and fattiness of the steak.

• Best wine with ribeye: Zinfandel

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Now that you have a better idea of how to pair the best wine with steak, its time to try your hand at different combinations and preparation methods. Enjoying fine dining is about finding your personal preferences and favorite flavor profiles. The only way to discover the best wine to pair with steak is to experiment!

For even more insight into pairing the best wine with steak, check out other gourmet experiences happening on Cozymeal.

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What Wine Goes With Flank Steak

In part because of its fruity flavor and strong aroma, Malbec is a fantastic wine to pair with more lean steaks such as top sirloin or flank steaks. While Malbec may be paired with a fatty piece of meat such as filet mignon, its richness may overpower the flavor of the meat in some cases.

What Wine Goes With Ribeye T

The porterhouse, ribeye, and T-bone steaks are similar in that they all have high-fat content from excellent marbling. Taking into consideration that red wine is the perfect pairing for steaks with a lot of fat content, its safe to say that your chardonnay may not be the best choice for your ribeye meal.

Both Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel work perfectly with the ribeye, T-Bone, and Porterhouse. Your choice will depend on how robust you like your wine flavors. Both score right in the middle of the wine sweetness scale, but the Zinfandel has some spiciness weaved into its fruity flavor, lending a unique twist to your steak.

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