Eight May bank holiday wines to drink with a barbecue

What would normally be celebrated on the Monday has this year been rescheduled to tie in with VE Day. And with a more encouraging weather forecast, Terry Kirby suggests the ideal bottles to match grilled food

If you have some prawns or even lobster on the go, then it’s time to open the rosé

Easter was certainly a bit odd this year, and some of us are now definitely losing track of when Sunday comes around. And now just to confuse matters, the May bank holiday has been moved four days down the road, from Monday to Friday.

And, although many of us might already have brought out the barbecue this year due to the fine weather, it’s usually in May that we really start cooking outside.

Given that we are all, of course, confined to our homes, for those of us lucky enough to have an outside space for a barbecue – even if it is only small balcony big enough to hold a small cast iron griddle or a supermarket one-time disposable – the taste of food cooked outdoors is something special, not to mention a welcome alternative for everyone to the normal kitchen routine. So, what foods are we going to cook and what wines to drink….?

While fish is not often the first choice for many on the barbie, I adore the taste of a grilled mackerel, whole sea bream, or even a salmon steak, so long as it’s carefully cooked – I recommend the special wire grills to hold them together.

The charred but tasty bits of skin and flesh will mean this isn’t a time for your delicate sancerre or gluggable pinot grigio – you need a decent robust, full-flavoured white, such as the Robert Oatley Margaret River Signature Chardonnay 2017 (£12, Coop.co.uk; £13.99 tauruswines.co.uk). It’s elegant and balanced, with just enough vanilla and oak to give some heft and citrus minerality to cut through the smoky fish flavours.

Again, grilling vegetables on the barbecue is not always a first thought, but it is one of the great ways of cooking asparagus and whole sweetcorn as well as slices of aubergine, beef tomatoes and courgettes. If there are lots of vegetables with the fish, I’d choose a sauvignon blanc, such as the ones I recommended a couple of weeks back here or the superlative Chateau de Cruzeau Pessac Leognan Andre Lurton 2016 (£17.99, Waitrose), which is sauvignon in the hands of master Bordeaux producers: lees aged, rich and aromatic enough to handle strong flavours, but with those citrus and vegetal notes to match grilled vegetables. And a very good match if you have some simple grilled chicken or pork escalopes.

If the day is really warm, and especially if you have some prawns or even lobster on the go, then it’s time to open the rosé and there is a wealth of great rosés out there, to which I’ll devote a full column in a couple of weeks’ time. If the budget is fairly limited, the Pierre Jaurant Languedoc Rosé 2019 (£5.99, aldi.co.uk) is a simply brilliant value southern French buy, delicate pale pink with hints of orange and punchy red fruit flavours. It would also suit all kinds of other fish and vegetable dishes.

If your wallet can stretch a little further, there is an excellent discount here on another lovely rosé from the Languedoc: Jardin de Roses AOP Languedoc Rosé (£9.99, normally £13.49, until 5 May, waitrose.com), which I’ve recommended before and which comes from the reliable Paul Mas co-operative. An elegant bottle, bone dry, with flavours of red berries and pink grapefruit, so what’s not to like? But you have to rush to take advantage of the discount to stock up before next weekend.

When it comes to barbecuing meat with big flavours from marinades and spicing, medium- to full-bodied robust reds are really the order of the day, and where better to look than those countries where the barbie reigns supreme? The Chakalaka Spice Route Swartland 2016 (£16.95, slurp.co.uk; £17.40, frontierfinewines.co.uk) could be a typical Languedoc blend with its complex mix of mourvedre, shiraz, carignan, tannat and petite syrah, but gets added oomph from some South African sun (and from a country which knows a thing or two about brai cooking). It delivers a really mouth-filling, robust wine, rich with black fruit and herbal flavours and absolutely ideal with any lamb, whether it’s a butterflied leg, burgers or spicy kebabs.

Similarly rich and even more full-bodied, but smooth and velvety, is the Tesco Finest Angelica Sur Malbec 2017 (£18, Tesco.com), again from a country where cooking over coals is a fine art. Don’t be put off by the rather formulaic label, this is a really top notch wine, ideal for all barbecued meats, but particularly beef of course. It would also be a fab partner for a spatch-cocked chicken.

And now on to Australia, where barbecued meats are often accompanied by a rich full bodied shiraz, with intense flavours of black fruits, chocolate and peppery spices. And one that fits the bill perfectly is the Peter Lehmann The Pastor’s Son Shiraz 2016 (£16.49 laithwaites.co.uk).

If those three suggestions feel a bit on the pricey side, then head off to Marks and Spencer for one of the best budget Spanish wines I’ve come across for some time, the Terrenal Garnacha (£6, M&S stores only), from the relatively obscure Paniza region in northeast Spain; medium to full bodied, juicy, succulent, brambly fruits and wonderfully gluggable with just about any barbecued meats and vegetables – and pretty good with pasta or pizza as well. So, barbecue wines sorted... but sorry, can’t make any guarantees about the weather.