Why It’s Time to Stop Pairing Malbec with Steak

There are many undisputed food and wine pairings. They are teachings etched in stone, passed down through generations like anger issues or a necklace. One endures as an icon: Malbec and steak.

Malbec and steak are a timeless pairing that even my parents know about (a middle-aged couple living in the Midlands with no interest in wine is a great barometer for this sort of thing). But I’m not the biggest fan of Malbec, and ordering red meat isn’t something I’m known for doing either. It’s inevitably paired with something so woody that my mouth gets splinters, and afterwards I feel like I have to stay horizontal for a period of time that I don’t feel comfortable eating. to write.

So imagine my delight when I discovered that red meat mecca Smokestak had created an own-brand wine that doesn’t leave your tongue feeling like it’s suggesting an organ. (I have to confess that I had never been to Smokestak before, even though I lived around the corner. I ignorantly assumed that because everyone loved it, I wouldn’t. I went there three times last month, with my tail between my arms.)

“When I started, I took all Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon off the menu,” says wine manager Emily Acha Derrington. “This association is based on one barbecue culture, but when you think about other places that enjoy barbecue around the world, you can play with some cool niche wines. Sometimes with something heavy, you need something with that acidity and brightness to stand out. »

And he does it. The wine – aptly named Smokestak Red – is a steak wine, but not as you might know it. It is lively, fresh, crunchy; words you would use to describe your latest acquisition from a fine wine store rather than your parents’ mainstays. It comes from South African winemaker Jurgen Gouws via Wasted Wine Club, a company founded by Angelo Van Dyk that sells surplus wine from producers directly to the thirsty consumer, packaged in Insta-friendly, direct-to-consumer labels.

I’ve talked about restaurant private label wines before. Often, they’re purchased in huge quantities, a cost savings that is sometimes passed on to the customer. But with the Smokestak Red, a much smaller quantity is produced, and when it’s gone, it’ll take four months for the next batch. It’s also not the cheapest wine on the menu, as Emily says she doesn’t want to order a huge volume to cut costs. Instead, she wants to create a wine she’s proud of.

For this reason, she lovingly jokes that wine is a kind of “vanity project,” but I see it more as an exercise in indulgence. On the grand scale of hospitality vanity projects, it ranks very modestly. You have the contacts, the passion, the ability to transform wine, and the people who want to drink it: why not? In any case, it’s a welcome change from the classics.

Smokestak House Red Blend x Jurgen Gouws 2023£23.

Hannah Crosbie is a wine writer and author of Corker: A Deeply Irrelevant Book About Wineavailable now.