No, it is not difficult to choose a wine for the barbecue! | New Brief #263

“Choosing wine for a barbecue can be a challenge.” That’s what it said in a food magazine I read last week when we were in Sweden (in the middle of barbecue season, and indeed, we barbecued every day for a week, drank a variety of different wines, and they were all a perfect match to what was on the grill). In fact, choosing wine for a barbecue is easy: you take a wine you like and in the price range that suits the occasion. This simple rule is actually a very good advice that applies to 99% of all meals with wine.

The food magazine talked about the accompaniments, the sauces, the spices, the barbecue smoke, the glaze (do you still use it?) and other things. Every little detail makes the match change from one wine to another. But no, it’s not like that, at least not for us. Thyme in the sauce, grilled corn on the side, a bearnaise, garlic or new potatoes. All of this does not make a particularly decisive difference to our choice of wine. The weather plays a bigger role. Very hot? A lighter wine served chilled. Or (God forbid) even a well-chilled white wine with a piece of meat, perhaps. Eating in the garden or in the dining room? Invited the neighbours? Or your friends from the wine club? This matters a lot more when it comes to choosing the “right” wine.

Scroll down to the end of this post to see some mouth-watering pictures and videos of barbecues. They are all from our South America wine tour that we do every January. Why not join us on the next tour?

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Sometimes we wonder why wine writers want to make it harder than it is? Is it to maintain their position as “experts”? By scaring people into thinking that wine is difficult, so that they keep wine on a mythical pedestal?

If we look at it from the wine producers’ perspective, that’s exactly where we should not put wine. Not on a pedestal. We rather have it the glass!

Wine consumption is declining today. The wine industry is struggling with profitability (with some exceptions of course). Every other day we see reports showing that young people are drinking less wine and that baby boomers (born between 1945 and 1962) are holding up the entire wine industry. But for how long? Young people are choosing beer instead of wine and one reason is the price. Another is – perhaps – that they think wine is complicated. Could it be because of all the hocus-pocus that is said and written about wine. About food and wine. About traditions and principles. And rules(!!). About do this but absolutely do not do that…

Wine needs to be removed from its pedestal. Is there any reason to preserve the mystique aura that surrounds wine and wine handling? (Which wine glasses to choose is a whole science—please note our irony. All glasses are equally good, except the bad ones. And we all know which those are.) And not least the combination of food and wine? Sometimes when I read about how wine and food should harmonize with each other I wonder if anyone, including the person who wrote it, really understands the absurdity of it all. Because what they are saying is that to get the harmony right you must know the exact spiciness, saltiness, bitterness, sweetness and so on in the food and the exact taste of the wine. When does that ever happen? When do you know exactly how the wine will taste before you pour it in the glass? (And that is, of course, part of the charm.)

Some people make it sound as if everything about wine requires knowledge, thus that wine is complicated. Which is of course nonsense. People have always drunk wine without knowing anything about it. It is not rocket science.

Wine is a source of joy, a lubricant for conversation, something to enjoy, preferably with food. It is not an academic chemo-bio-tech-laboratory experiment.

Let’s not despair. The future does not look completely black. There are many young people who drink wine, we know several. Many of these are also curious and want to know more. But the positive thing is that even if they sometimes want to know what the rules and rituals are, I get the feeling that in the end they will not care so much about following them. It is more fun to break the rules when you know they exist.

Speaking of learning about wine, I am almost certain that there are more wine geeks today than there used to be in the world. More people who really dig into the details and want to know everything.

The conclusion is that there are all types of wine drinkers. Just as there are all types of winemakers. Which of course can make it a bit complicated…

In the end, however, the most important thing is that a wine should be delicious, which only you can decide, and enjoyable, and that depends on you and your guests.

Wine tours

A few words on the upcoming tours:

Burgundy and Rhone Valley wine tour

The Burgundy and Rhone Valley wine tour is fully booked this year. Why not come to Bordeaux instead?:

Exclusive Bordeaux Tour

We still have a few places available on our exceptional Bordeaux tour in October.

What would one have on a Bordeaux wine tour “bucket list”? To taste the five First Growths plus Pétrus and Le Pin? That is of course possible. We would suggest something different, more special.

One can always buy expensive wines. Anywhere. But one cannot meet the people. And see the places. Come into the private chateaux. That’s what we’re giving you on our Bordeaux tour. Great wines, of course, but also meeting some very special people that will tell you their stories, exploring some vineyards that are not on the front page of Wine Spectator or Decanter (and, by the way, is where everyone else goes also).

Together with this you will get some outstanding gastronomic meals, private meals with – perhaps… – some very special wines from the cellar, brought up just for you.

The “First Growth bucket list tour” that I alluded to is like going to Paris and only see Notre Dame, Tour d’Argent and the Eiffel Tower while missing out on the food market, the neighbourhood bistro with the very special wine list, the private art collections, a walk along the Seine, and, above all, missing out on the Paris (and Bordeaux) atmosphere.

So, if you are a curious person, who wants to discover more about wine than just choosing the most expensive wine on the list, then this tour is for you. As a bonus, you’ll get beautiful chateaux and top level French cuisine.

Only a few places left, so book now!

Winter Wine Tours

All three winter wine tours will be back in 2026. We don’t promise summer, sun, and beach in the middle of northern winter, but we can without hesitation promise summer, sun, wine and gastronomy (and a little beach if you want).

• Chile-Argentina, January 12-25, 2026
• South Africa, February 15-25, 2026
• New Zealand, March 10-25, 2026

Book now! Only a limited number of places left.

See how it’s been this year in these three tour Facebook groups:

• Chile and Argentinas wine tour on Facebook
• South Africa wine tour on Facebook
• New Zealand wine tour on Facebook

Click Join and then choose how many notifications you want – everything, the most important, nothing.

More info on our wine tours here. “World’s Top Wine Tours“. Tours with the people who know wine and who have an unrivalled experience of wine and tours.

Travel in wine regions with someone you trust.

Enjoy the Brief!

Britt & Per

Wine editors to the national encyclopedia, Forbes.com contributors, award-winning wine book authors, wine tour advisors to the UN and national wine organisations, wine judges … and, above all, passionate wine travellers.

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