Wine Pairing With Steak: Bordeaux Inspired Meal to Make at Home
Picture this: you’re hosting a meal and the main guest loves Bordeaux wines and steak. What is the best wine pairing with steak?
In this post, find great tips and tricks for meal planning for Bordeaux wine lovers. Here’s a preview for an easy, no-fail Bordeaux-themed meal that is easy to prepare and sure to please everyone-including you!
- Set the budget
- 3 courses-only make 1
- Value wines for an appetizer, first course
- Big wines for big steaks
- Wow moment easy to recreate
- Dessert wine that is sure to please
Bordeaux wine pairing tip #1:
Start by setting your budget before beginning any creative process.
- I know the budget is not the fun part of the journey but it’s essential to a successful meal.
- A budget allows you to determine what wines, and how many of those wines you offer.
- When I determine my budget, I think about how much I want to spend for the entire meal.
- I’ll purchase the wine first and then reverse-engineer a meal. Or I’ll look at what we have in stock for inspiration.
- Then I’ll base a meal around the wines I want to serve.
Bordeaux wine pairing tip #2:
Offer a three-course meal paired with Bordeaux wines, but don’t make the entire meal from scratch.
- First, only cook two dishes no matter how many courses you have.
- Why is that? You don’t want to be frazzled in the kitchen. Your guests don’t want to see you frazzled and you need to enjoy yourself.
- Even better if you can have one other person cook one dish and you cook one dish. That way you will have time and energy to be there for your guests.
- For example, if you make the main, ask a friend to bring a side dish.
- Appetizers and other sides can be bought at the local grocery store or caterer.
So we figured out our wine budget, which of the courses to prepare ourselves, and which courses we’re to purchase in advance.
Bordeaux wine pairing tip #3:
Serve the more value-driven wine for the appetizers.
- First, we’ll have some appetizers.
- Try something super easy that you don’t have to prepare. I recommend sushi. Sushi is easy to find anywhere and can allow you to offer different options for your guests to pair with sushi.
- A great white Bordeaux is found in the Entre Deux Mers.
- It’s a large region and an up-and-coming region for great values.
- Try a white Bordeaux wine from this region to go with your sushi. And the price point can go all over the place but you can find something high quality under $30.
Bordeaux tip #4: Wine pairing with steak
Big wines for big steaks.
- If your main guest is a Bordeaux wine lover, they probably love red meat!
- I would recommend grilled red meat, something with marbling, like a ribeye steak. Prime rib would be delicious.
- You could go with a tenderloin but there isn’t as much fat so there’s a little bit less flavor and because Bordeaux wines have a little bit more tannins, they can handle something with a little bit more full fat.
- Wine pairing with steak:
- I would recommend two options: a Listrac-Medoc, or a St. Julien.
- The Listrac-Medoc is the least pricey of the two and it offers great options for you in the $30 range.
- Now if you have a special guest or want to enjoy a special Bordeaux wine, try a St. Julien.
- St. Julien is my favorite appellation in Bordeaux and it’s that perfect blend of power and finesse. There are many classified growths in St. Julien that you should try. The price point’s higher so if you’re unsure, stick with a Listrac-Medoc.
Bordeaux tip #5 Cheese Course and dessert
Offer a wow moment from the start and continue to wow with the cheese!
- I know what you’re thinking, the cheese is supposed to be the appetizer! Thinking charcuterie board?
- Cheese boards in the United States are usually offered before the meal.
- But in France cheese is after the main course so let’s go with the French tradition.
- Offer a mild, a hard, and a third cheese.
- Since this is a Bordeaux-themed meal, let’s go with the brie, for your mild, a farmhouse cheddar for your hard cheese, and a blue cheese like Roquefort (Ruk-forh –I know that’s a hard word to say but it’s a blue cheese made close to the Bordeaux area so it would be a great thematic cheese for you.)
- If you have a red wine leftover from the main course, that would make a great segue into your cheese course.
- WOW moment: offer a magnum for the main course and the remainder for the cheese course.
- The red will go well with that farmhouse cheddar but that blue cheese is a challenging pairing. I would recommend a Sauternes, a sweet wine made from what we call noble rot into liquid gold. Sauternes is having a second wave, a new wave of fans who love it and make it a little bit more of a contemporary type of wine.
- And last but not least, is the dessert.
- Choose a dessert that pairs well with your Sauternes- if you’re offering Sauternes from the cheese course.
- If your dessert is sweeter than your Sauternes, it makes the Sauternes taste bitter.
Here’s a Bordeaux-themed meal with wines from Bordeaux that will satisfy any palette.
- First start with a pass-around of sushi, paired with Entre Deux Mers.
- And then go for the big guns with steak and a St. Juien or a Listrac-Medoc.
- Offer a cheese course and continue with the red wine offered for steak. For Sauternes lovers, this would be a great opportunity to pair it with blue cheese.
- Make sure the dessert is not sweeter than your Sauternes.
So we have three courses plus a pass around. And you make only one or two courses to eliminate stress for you as the host.
And last but not least, your guests feel the love, and the dedication you’ve put into this Bordeaux wine meal for it to be a success.
So I say congratulations-Cheers!
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