An Aussie Sausage Sizzle + d'Arenberg The Custodian Grenache 2013 #WinePW

Welcome to the June edition of Wine Pairing Weekend. This month Gwendolyn, of Wine Predator, is hosting. You can read her invitation: here. And she invited us to explore and post about Australian wines. If you're reading this early enough, join us on Twitter - Saturday, June 9th - at 8am Pacific time; follow along with hashtag #WinePW.

The Down Under Offerings

• Liz of What’s in that Bottle? says, “You Say Syrah, Australia Says Shiraz.”
• J.R. of Great Big Reds will be pouring Great Big Reds of Summer: Kreuz, TheBoxer, #WinePW.
• David of Cooking Chat will be making Grilled Steak with Garlic Butter and an Aussie Shiraz Blend.
• Lisa of The Wine Chef says Surf And Turf On The Barbie — Shrimp And Lamb Paired With McGuigan Wines
• Nicole of Somm’s Table  will be Cooking to the Wine: Dandelion Vineyards Shiraz and a Miso-Soy Strip Loin Feast.
• Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm is Taking a Second Voyage with Burgers on the Barbie.
• Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla is posting An Aussie Sausage Sizzle + d’Arenberg The Custodian Grenache 2013.
• And Gwendolyn, of Wine Predator, and Sue decided to offer up two wines along with this preview post, one white and one red. And, for the event, On The Barbie: Rack of Lamb with Brothers in Arms Shiraz.

An Aussie Sausage Sizzle

For this event, I thought: I could just "pull some snags out of the eski and toss them on the barbie for the blokes." Translation: "...pull some sausages out of the fridge and toss them on the grill for my guys." That seemed simple enough.

Then I read about the institution of the Sausage Sizzle and loved the idea of bringing people together for a quick meal with just sausages, bread, and grilled onions. I had some sausages from a local meat company and we are never without bread and onions in the house. So, I took it all over to our friends' house when they invited us over for an end-of-the-schoolyear barbeque.

In the Glass

Besides Italian reds, wines from Australia were the first that I drank on a regular basis. They were more affordable than their French counterparts. And, when I was a starving college student, we were more into quantity than quality. Still, I found most Australian wines easy-drinking. Most of the time we were pouring Shiraz.

I thought about tracking down one of those bottles I used to drink in college, but then I came across a selection of d'Arenberg wines. Founded in the early 20th centurey, d'Arenberg is an Australian wine company with most of its vines located in South Australia's McLaren Vale, though some of their grapes are sourced from the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula. The Osborn family has been heading the winery for four generations now. Chester Osborn produces wines by using basket pressing and leaving the reds unfiltered.

With my Sausage Sizzle, I poured the d'Arenberg The Custodian Grenache 2013. And I also paired  the d'Arenberg The Hermit Crab Viognier Marsanne 2016 with an Australian cheese. More on that soon.

The Story Behind The Name

I did some digging to find the story behind the name. So it goes...d'Arry Osborn refused to pull out his old Grenache vineyards. When Chester became the lead winemaker in the 1980s, he set out to plan even more old vine Grenache despite it being an unfashionable grape, at the time. So, today, d'Arenberg maintains nearly one-third of McLaren Vale's old vine Grenache. They have earned the moniker: Custodian of the Grenache.

Tasting Notes

The 2013 d'Arenberg Custodian is a beautiful, balanced red wine. On the nose, I get wafts of woody spices and moist soil, initially, but as it sits in the glass, it opens up with more fruity aromas. On the tongue, it had a nice dance of sweet and tangy. Overall, this was an appealing foil to the salty sausages.