Don’t pair just any cut of steak with any glass of red

Don’t pair just any cut of steak with any glass of red

Directions

We’re sure that you are familiar with the notion of pairing white wine with fish and red wine with meat. That’s a given.

What would you say, however, if we were to ask you which red wine varietal is best suited to steak? What if we were to be even more specific and ask which region pairs best with a Scotch Fillet? What about a Porterhouse?

By now you may be asking to yourself, and reasonably so;
Does it matter?
Is there a difference?
Can’t I just eat my steak and drink my wine in peace without being subjected to a series of technical food and wine questions?

Well the team here at CellarDoor.co HQ can answer with confidence; yes it does matter, there is a big difference, and trust us your steak dinner is going to be significantly better if you take a couple of moments to think about it.

It’s time for a wine and food ‘real talk’ moment.

The CellarDoor.co team head to the Barossa for ‘work’

During a recent lunch in the Barossa, Pepperjack winemaker Richard Mattner gave us some background as to how his Pepperjack Graded Shiraz wines were born. It all began with a question – could you purposefully craft a wine to be paired with a specific cut of steak?

“For so long we just thought about steak as a singular thing. You pair Shiraz with steak and that’s pretty much that. But when I was asked about specific cuts, we started to think about Shiraz more deeply.” Richard explained to our team.

Off to the kitchen, Richard was joined by Salter’s Head Chef Scott Liddell and CD.co’s George Samios for a steak dissection. They left wine off the table for the moment and delved into the nuances of two particular cuts; Scotch Fillet and Porterhouse.

“Scotch Fillet is a bolder, more flavourful steak, given its higher fat content and marbling. Porterhouse is leaner and firmer, and maintains most of its flavour profile in the front palate.

“We had to think about these differences first before we could think about the wines and which characteristics we would most like to see in them.”


For Richard, the Scotch Fillet required a Shiraz that could meet and balance its richness. For this he sourced select parcels of fruit in McLaren Vale to craft a Shiraz that would be concentrated, plush and bright in style.

The Porterhouse on the other hand needed a wine that was a little more restrained and elegant. Something that could carry the flavour through the palate, and not wash over it. Langhorne Creek, which is not at all far from McLaren Vale, has a distinct micro-climate thanks to Lake Alexandrina and helped Richard shape a wine of incredible minerality and palate length.

Folks, Richard achieved exactly what he set out to…

Hello readers, this is Jack here. I’ve decided to take a little step out of the norm and speak personally with you for a moment. I’m about to talk up these wines in a second, and so I thought I’d preface it by saying that I understand this kind of praise can seem contrived as I’m writing from an arguably biased perspective. Believe me, please, when I say that these wines and their corresponding steaks are no joke.
The results completely blew away any small ounce of cynicism that I may have held before. The wines are great by themselves. They are also still great when you cross their steak pairs. But when you pair the Pepperjack McLaren Vale Graded with Scotch Fillet and the Pepperjack Langhorne Creek Graded with Porterhouse… it was clear as day - ‘the sum of their parts’ and all that jazz. The wine and food were both elevated and more enjoyable than they were prior to the correct pairing. Hand on heart, it was an astonishing experience. I loved it.

Work your way back from food to Pepperjack

Richard traces his success in creating such a harmonious balance between food and wine back to the initial conversations he had with Scott and George in the Salter’s kitchen. By thinking about the cuts of meat in depth, identifying a flavour profile and understanding how the steaks play on the palate, they were able to discern the exact wine Richard should produce.

When thinking about food and wine yourself, you may wish to go the other way; starting with your wine and then preparing a meal to complement. Either way, the real take away is the depth of thought and the understanding of each component.

Red wine and red meat may work well together – but it’s in the nuance that we find the sublime.

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Premium Cut Cabernet Shiraz 2018 Premium Cut Cabernet Shiraz 2018
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RRP (750 mL)
$50.00
750 mL
$27.00
6 x 750 mL
$162.00
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