WineLibrary TV - Steak and wine

The most popular video wine blog out there right now is WineLibraryTV. Host Gary Vaynerchuk, who’s family owns The Wine Library in New York City, takes a different approach to wine, one that is laid back, informal, and often involves references to professional wrestling and the New York Jets. I started watching WineLibraryTV a few months back and find myself keeping up with most of the new episodes as well as going through the archives for topics that interest me. I’m not going to lie, I found Gary to be a bit annoying at first, but the more I watched, the more I realized he knew what he was talking about and was just being himself while having a great time doing it.

Monday night’s episode of WineLibrary TV dealt with wines that pair well with steak. Gary featured a few reds and one Riesling that he paired with a nice medium rare steak (see the episode here). He concluded that the Riesling he chose was the best match of the four wines he paired with his steak. As always, the show ended with a Question of the Day (”QOTD”) which is intended for viewers to leave their answers in the form of a comment on the episode. The question was simple: How do you like your steak?” I rarely respond to his “QOTD”, but this time I had incentive: those who responded (all 1000 or so of us) were entered into a random drawing to win a 6 liter bottle of 1992 Silver Oak Cabernet, signed by the winemaker.

My reply to the question was: Rubbed with olive oil, salt/pepper, seared medium-rare served with a slice of lemon and a Chianti or Barolo.

Motivated by my own reply to the question, I felt compelled (hungry) to make a steak and pair some wines with it myself. So last night I made a 20 oz bone-in Ribeye steak using this simple formula:

Let steak (1 1/2″ thickness) sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before cooking.

1. Rub 1 teaspoon of olive oil all over steak. Liberally sprinkle with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
2. Heat a large pan (All-Clad or some other high quality metal pan) over high heat. Place steak in pan and let cook for 4 minutes.
3. Turn steak over and cook and additional 4 minutes.
4. Remove from pan, place on cutting board and drizzle with fresh lemon juice. Place foil over steak and let sit 5-10 minutes.
5. Serve with lemon wedge.

It’s that easy. The outside will be perfectly seared (see image), the inside medium-rare to perfection.

I’d pair this with a Rosso di Montalcino (or perhaps Chianti Classico) or a Barolo. A nice Burgundy would also work, as would a Malbec or Tempranillo. The best way to figure out what pairings work and what don’t, is to make a few steaks, invite some friends over, and open 5-10 different wines and see what you like the best!

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