Sips & Tips

Drink this with that – summer BBQ drinks pairings

Read Time 12 Minutes

Posted 07 Jul 2023

Summer backyard get-togethers call for refreshing drinks. To make planning easy, we’ve found some great food and drink pairings for your long weekend BBQ.

There’s a simple summer equation: good drinks, food and friends, equal good times. These pairings take care of the food and drink elements, so you can enjoy dishes that are full of flavour and seasonal ingredients, and drinks from Australian shores and beyond.

Rosé and sparkling with seafood

Our taste for rosé hasn’t slowed down in recent years and summer is prime time for one of the most refreshing drops for the Australian summer. Selaks Taste Collection Berries & Cream Rosé and the James Busby Margaret River Rosé both invoke summer with notes of wild strawberry and ripe berry fruits. Chilled, they pair fantastically with Courtney Roulston’s delicious recipe for BBQ scallops with chilli and garlic butter. A quick but impressive dish, and match, to boost your party repertoire.

While another shrimp on the barbie may be the greatest cliché of all time, nothing says that summer is here more than prawns and homegrown bubbles. Tempus Two Graphite Prosecco draws on the attributes of this Italian party starter, while being resolutely Australian, using fruit from many of Australia’s premium wine regions. From one of Australia’s most revered producers, Chandon NV Rosé is crafted from Victorian cool-climate Pinot Noir from the Yarra Valley, Strathbogie Ranges and the Whitlands Plateau. It’s a great match to seafood with redcurrant, cherry sorbet and pink grapefruit on the palate, and dry notes of hazelnut on the nose. Both of these wines can take a little heat.

Chilled red with smoky BBQ pork

PSA: chilled reds are in. Once a no-no with the wine snobs, the joy of a light, chilled red in the warmer months is now very much the done thing, with the likes of Jacob’s Creek Lively Bunch Pinot Noir designed to be chilled. Textured, fresh and giving juicy berry fruits on the palate, it’s a lively match for this rich, bold pork dish. Equally the Taylors Estate Pinot Noir with fruit from the Clare Valley is a medium-bodied wine with characters of cinnamon and cedar that play well with the dishes smoky flavour profile.

White wine with spiced BBQ chicken

Conventional wisdom will tell you that chicken and white wine are a perfect match, but what about when the chook is beyond basic, barbecued until crisp and prepared with lime, coriander and a host of spices? The answer is absolutely – with the right wine. Enter, Rapaura Springs Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, from New Zealand’s famed Marlborough wine region. The prominent flavours here are passionfruit, tropical fruit and black currant, it’s a wine with crisp acidity, minerality and balance. Hailing from the Adelaide Hills, Swanning Around Pinot Gris also displays crisp natural acidity that’s a foil for the boldness of this superb chicken dish and its barbecued corn sidekick. Enjoy its floral aromas with ripe pear and apple pie notes.

Refreshing beers with spicy cheeseburgers

You can rely on Curtis Stone to bring a fresh twist to a backyard barbie, with his Southern-style cheeseburgers. Be sure to pick up enough lime to satisfy Curtis’ recipe, and for the authentic Corona Extra experience, a wedge of lime in the bottle neck amping up the beer’s natural hop notes. While we all love a bottle of Mexico’s finest, if you want a true-blue beer to match your burger, try Spill Lager. New to the beer scene, it’s brewed with hops from the Southern hemisphere, delivering tropical fruit and citrus characters.

Seltzers with chargrilled lamb cutlets

For fresh, light summer drinking, seltzers have been finding more and more favour with Australian drinkers, whether non-alcoholic or on the harder side. Vodka is a natural choice for seltzers, but there are also some great options for whiskey lovers. Canadian Club Soda & Lime is a new drop from this Canadian institution that has whiskey in the mix. It pairs perfectly with summer barbecue dishes such as BBQ lamb cutlets, holding up to the heat and also cutting through the richness of the lamb. Genuinely an Australian first, Good Tides Hard Seltzer Raspberry Vodka is a sugar-free alcoholic vodka seltzer which uses triple-distilled vodka. At just 85 calories per can, it’s a refreshing option to serve before or during a summer meal.

Spirits and premixes with fruity salads

Conjuring up summer in the Greek islands this simple summer melon salad is a refreshing meat-free option for casual entertaining. It pairs fantastically with the Mediterranean flavours in Malfy Gin Con Arancia, which takes its cues from Italy with botanicals lifted by Amalfi lemon peel. It’s perfect for a gin and tonic or a spritz. Likewise, Absolut Vodka, a Swedish favourite that employs hundreds of years of craft, offers notes of dried fruit and grain in its purest form, or try amped-up versions flavoured with vanilla, lime, watermelon and passionfruit. Simply top with soda and a fresh garnish for a delicious summer drink.

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