| Wine With. . . Hot Dogs by Paul Lukacs and Marguerite Thomas
We have a good friend and neighbor who is crazy about hot dogs. To be more exact, he’s crazy about “Smith Dogs,” a brand made without preservatives and sporting natural casings, by the Smith Provision Company of Erie, Pennsylvania. Because Jerry and his wife, Georgia, are also big wine fans, we invited them over the other day to sample some different wines with this all-American backyard treat. We supplied the side dishes (corn and garden tomato salad), while Jerry brought a batch of “Smith Dogs.” We grilled the dogs (“a different flavor than boiling,” according to Jerry), and served them on potato roll buns, with ketchup, mustard, relish, and chopped Vidalia onions. They were very tasty. They also were attractively salty and, because of the condiments, a bit sweet. That salty/sweet combination made them a difficult match for wines whose chief appeal was earthy or spicy flavor instead of fruit, or wines that seemed subtle rather than direct. A Morellino di Scansano from Tuscany, for example, was delicious on its own but seemed overwhelmed in combination. So too with an Australian Riesling, a Sonoma County Pinot Noir, and a southern French rosé. Both a Côtes du Rhône and a South African Pinotage tasted too dry and dusty, while a Napa Valley Merlot seemed too rich. All told, we tried thirteen wines, and we agreed that the following five showed best. Though made from different grape varieties, they all share one distinguishing characteristic–the rich, forward taste of ripe fruit.
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| Dry Creek Vineyards, Sonoma County (California) “Old Vines” Zinfandel 2002 | $27 | This Zin skittered at the edge of being too big for the dogs, but it was so well balanced–with fruit, alcohol and tannins in pleasing equilibrium–that we all agreed it was a congenial union. |
| Eberle, Paso Robles (California) Barbera 2003 | $18 | This was another California biggie that came close to overwhelming the hot dogs. But with its plush fruitiness and soft texture, the Barbera, which seemed almost too rich and oaky on its own, became like an unusually tasty extra condiment when paired with the Smith dogs. |
| Peter Lehman, Barossa Valley (Australia) Shiraz 2002 (Imported by the Hess Collection) | $16 | “Delicious!” was the only tasting note one of us wrote about this wine–aptly summing up the sentiments of the entire group. Considering the number of wines to choose from in our sampling, we were surprised to discover that all four of us had ranked this Shiraz the “best match” in our tasting notes. The wine is robust but not fat, and it has plenty of sweet fruit and appealing peppery elements that hit just the right gustatory note. |
| Prazo di Roriz, Douro (Portugal) 2003 (Imported by Premium Port Wines) | $13 | From the Douro region in northern Portugal, this was the leanest among our finalists. Even with its relative restraint and reined-in fruit, the medium-bodied vinho still has enough character to run with the dogs. “Good wine–even better with the hot dogs,” one of us commented in our notes. |
| Wente, Livermore Valley (California) Chardonnay 2004 | $13 | Most of the white wines we sampled struck the wrong chord, seeming either too light or too sweet to suit the hot dogs and their array of condiments. But while the consensus was that dogs do better with reds, we agreed that full bodied, oaky Chardonnays such as this lip-smacking Livermore exemplar offer a–dare we say–doggone good alternative. |
