Sweet Meats in the Summertime

When I think of summer, three things come to mind-baseball, beer and hot dogs. That being said, I will always be a wine lover first, so I decided to mix it up a bit recently with a rogue pairing of sorts.

On a whim, I decided to try a German white with my dog. I stopped off at Trader Joe's and picked up a Dr. Beckerman's 2008 Auslese Rheinhessen. Auslese means 'late harvest' in German and true to form, the wine was definitely on the sweeter side. The Rheinhessen regiob is known for its quality, and this bottle certainly complimented the crisp saltiness of the hot dog and cut through the acidity of the ketchup I had doused it in.

Next up was a juicy cheeseburger, that Unorthodox Foodie and I paired with a 2008 Chook Shed Shiraz. Barossa Valley reds are known to compliment red meat, especially the slightly charred variety, so we thought this would be a slam dunk..not so fast. The dark fruit and substantial tannins seemed to overpower the burger, and the two were almost "fighting for control," as Unorthodox put it. She preferred the white over the red with both dishes, and while I enjoyed the white with the burger too, in the end I leaned more toward the red with my iron-rich meal.

So in the end we agreed to disagree as we enjoyed one of our favorite pasttimes-eating great food and searching for that perfect pairings for sweet meats in the summertime.

Special thanks to:

http://www.traderjoes.com/