Pairing: Grilled Vegetables and Sausage Paired with a 2012 Cornas “Les Chailles”

Food:  This is wonderful summertime fare. We make ours with dark green zucchini, yellow summer squash, yellow bell pepper, and red onion. Using multi-colored pasta adds even more color and fun. Season with salt and pepper and toss the vegetables with some olive oil before placing the mix into a grill pan over a hot fire. Keep an eye on it and stir or toss the vegetables frequently so you don’t accidentally blacken them (though we like a little woodsmoke and charcoal flavor … the operative words being “a little”).

Before hand you’ve grilled up some favorite sausage. We like the flavor of bratwurst sausage. After grilling them, slice them up and combine with the finished vegetables, the cooked pasta, some béchamel sauce, and grated parmesan cheese. What a treat to enjoy outdoors on a warm summer evening! And you can make as much as you want for friends, family … or leftovers.

Wine:  When grilling is a focal point of a meal, we frequently reach for a Syrah, whether from Australia, California, France, or elsewhere. Cornas is an appellation and a village located in the northern Rhone Valley region in southern France. Les Chailles is the name given to the rich, flavorful Syrah grapes from combined named locales in Cornas.

Tasting Notes: The nose: Imagine … walking into a leather shop in Florence, inhale deeply … catch that wonderful aroma of leather. Ahh … Then … sneak out the back door (no, you haven’t done anything illegal) and run into a bramble tangle of black fruits and blueberry. Inhale deeply … mmmm. The palate:  A positively beautiful integration of black fruit flavors and soft tannins. Interesting to note that one of us (my wife) tasted fresh fruit, while I tasted cooked fruit (like jam). The background hints of charcoal and parmesan cheese in the pasta play very well with this Syrah.

Other Wines That Pair Well with Grilled Vegetables and Sausage: GSM (Australia or California), Gigondas (France), Pinot Noir (New Zealand), Syrah (Washington)

Other Food That Pairs Well with French Syrah (Cornas): Roasted or Grilled Chicken, Duck, Beef, Lamb or Pork, Mushrooms, Grilled Tuna

View the Beautiful Cornas Wine Region:  Cornas Wine Region

A Source:  www. klwines.com