Prime Rib Roast Pairing

I imagine this one will be an easy one for most of you out there. Here's the background... I have a neighbor that loves to cook. He and his wife are long time wine drinkers but have never been that tuned to food pairings. I"m a little new to the wine game, joined a club about 2 years ago and I'm enjoying catching up. He'll plan a meal and my task is to pair the wine. So Prime Rib is next up. I'm leaning towards a Durif or maybe a Cotes du Rhone... or a Bordeaux. In my rack I have a nice blend from CA, Cab/Merlot/Petite Sirah that I think I might try. And then there's some Riojas that sound good. One solution of course is to invite enough people so we can try them all without getting sauced. Any thoughts on nice fits with prime rib?

[Jenise]

Hi Ed, welcome to FLDG!!!

Prime Rib's pretty easy. Really, just about any red wine would do well, and if you put three wines on the table and served eight guests, they'd all have a different favorite. IOW, as long as it's dry you can't go wrong. But depending on your tastes--and that includes the doneness of the meat--some things do work especially well. I like mine rare, and for that and my tastes nothing goes better than cabernet sauvignon or cabernet-based blends.

Good call on how the meat is done. For sure it would be on the Medium Rare side... at least the slice I would want. Suppose the other interest might be how the meat is prepared and I'd guess that there would be a garlic rub applied.

Agree with Jenise but want to add that I find that the fat in a rib roast also points me toward a cab based wine. I want something with some tannin otherwise the fat in the roast can make a wine with less tannin kind of loose focus. Not the best way to phrase it I am sure but to me a softer merlot does not do as well with a fatter cut of meat.

Good point about the fat. Although I find even though prime ribs have a lot fat, the meat itself does seem to "embrace" it the same way that a rib eye does. Or more so, fatty meat that's brazed... that really embraces the fat content. Then I like a Barolo... or something like that.

Lately I have had a problem with my prime rib. Just as in many restaurants the exact center of the eye seemed to be tasteless. I solved the problem soaking the meat in a marinade of water that had been steeped with a little rosemary & thyme, some sugar, a little salt and a half a can of consumme. That seemed to help.

I need to stop reading these posts around dinner time when I'm still at the office.

Burgundy for beef, Bordeaux for lamb.

So goes the old saying.

Here's another thought for you: There is an old English tradition of rare roast beef and port. You'd be surprised -- I was! -- at how well that all that alcohol and sugar works with the fat and blood.

Burgundy for beef, Bordeaux for lamb.

IMO Bordeaux is the IBM of the wine world - no one got sacked for buying IBM and no one gets it wrong when serving Bordeaux

As for beef, while there's the classic Beef Bourguinon there's also the classic Entrecote Bordelais.

[Jenise]

Burgundy for beef, Bordeaux for lamb.

And white wine with veal and chicken. I don't buy any of it.

Brian--you're so right about the tannins, I didn't break it down in my own thinking but that's exactly why I would choose cabernet-based wine over most other big reds. Though like Peter, I'd be just as happy if it were Bordeaux.

So how about a Barolo?

Hi Ed, welcome to FLDG!!!

Prime Rib's pretty easy. Really, just about any red wine would do well, and if you put three wines on the table and served eight guests, they'd all have a different favorite. IOW, as long as it's dry you can't go wrong. But depending on your tastes--and that includes the doneness of the meat--some things do work especially well. I like mine rare, and for that and my tastes nothing goes better than cabernet sauvignon or cabernet-based blends.

RARE, the word sticks out prominently. You would have no problem eating beef at our home. I remember my mother would not cook beef in our home well done, even for company. Ruining a good piece of beef was not something she could stand to bear.

[Jenise]

So how about a Barolo?

I would quite happily drink barolo with prime rib!