The weather is trying to turn warmer. In Southern California, it's been backsliding a bit of late. One day we'll get temperatures which make one think summer must surely be on the express train to our depot. The next day our shoulders are scrunched up, we're breathing into our fists and leaning into a freezing gale-force wind. May in Southern California is just delightful. Now June is here, and all those who grill are hoping a turn for the warmer is in the cards.
Apparently, I'm not the only one looking forward to firing up a grill. The most recent email newsletter from Wine Expo in Santa Monica lists a few wines they recommend pairing with grilled delectables. It also contains one of the best descriptions of "barbecue as a religion" that I've seen. Here it is:
"Schisms, Isms and the McRibbs HeresyBBQ is a fundamentalist religion in some areas and has at least three major sects: the Orthodox Friars of Fruitwood Smoke Slow Cooking, the Sainted Sisters of The Sauce is Boss and the somewhat exotic and hard to find Vicars of the Vinaigrette Marinade (an Eastern offshoot of the famously violent Dry Rub Rebellion of 1893). The defining of BBQ can start an argument (or even a fist fight) because (just like traditional wine styles) THESE THINGS MATTER: it is the culture, patrimony and heritage of someone you are talking about, and that does not come in a bottle from the supermarket. But, being a Big Tent house of The Q, we here at WINE EXPO are willing to arbitrate if you bring enough samples for lunch, and we have also searched the globe to find wines fit for it all so you (andyour Sweet Red Sauce loving Brother in Law) can have an ecumenical holiday weekend."
Wine Expo's website has the rest of the newsletter and those wine recommendations for your spring cookouts. By the way, their newsletter mentions - almost in passing - that Wine Expo hopes to be pouring wine in their very own tasting room by June 2010! I wonder if they'll set up a grill in the parking lot for opening day?
