We didn’t try the Syrah on our visit to 4R Ranch & Vineyards (more) last year, so when we went on the Wild West Wine Walk in November, we tried it out at their tasting room in McKinney.
Basically two bottles came home with us as a result. I’d been holding onto it since it needs something hearty to go with it. My husband says Bar-B-Que, and while I can see that – it needs the smoke, not the sweet.
Instead I decided to pair it with Keema – a spiced minced meat dish. The origins of Keema are debatable – India, Middle East, Africa. It really doesn’t matter. I explained it to a friend as a super spicy middle eastern hamburger helper. He liked it. This one was made with jalapeños, tomatoes, onion and the spice mix from a box.
The wine, which has a bit of an acidic scent, when it wasn’t being overpowered by the keema spices was a good pairing with this dish. The spice made it sweet, and yet the wine helps the spice to build on the next bite.
Final Thoughts
Was this a perfect pairing – probably not. However, the wine stood up to the spiciness of the dish (which needed more rice to cool the spice). It was, however, excellent with the chocolate brownies for dessert. In fact, that brought out more of the traditional syrah flavor and spice. The next bottle will probably go with a lasagna, or meatloaf. But it was a good wine for dinner on a Thursday night.
And yes, Rusty (the dog) loved the Keema. He still won’t try wine yet.
