Greasy Fingers – Made for cheat days
When you hear someone talk knowingly about wine, the declaration of what fine food to pair it with is never far from their lips. Enter Greasy Fingers, the brand designed to remove the pomp of wine and food matching and admit that pairing wine with burgers, pizza or any kind of takeaway is what you actually want. Sometimes something greasy is hard to resist, and you should treat yourself to a wine that deserves it too.
It is true that an aged Rioja or Montrachet probably wouldn’t pair so well with McDonalds or a kebab, so these are the perfect wines to turn to. Aiming to have enough bite and boldness to cut through some of the grease, these wines give you your fast-food mate. Not only does the flavour match, but the budget too.
Currently there are two wines up to the task. Greasy Fingers Luscious Red and Greasy Fingers Big Buttery Chardonnay. Both bold, both fine-tuned for your gourmet nights in.
How do they taste?
Greasy Fingers Luscious Red
A typical Southern French blend of Shiraz and Grenache from Australia, this will get many people talking. Grenache brings lighter and riper red fruit flavours such as strawberry, plum and cherry. The Shiraz enhances the red fruit flavour further, adds a little black fruit and spice into the mix, brings a darker colour and bumps the tannin up a bit, although tannin is still nice gentle.
The soft palate and bold fruit-forward nature of the wine perfectly aligns it with the target food. They recommend fried chicken or cheeseburgers. I recommend anything with a hint of greasy decadence!
Greasy Fingers Big Buttery Chardonnay
No prizes for guessing the main flavour of this one, or indeed the intensity… This is classic Aussie Chardonnay winemaking, none of the Old World style of capturing subtle hints of flavours here and there, instead just throwing them at you. I’ve often heard this cited as a “love it or hate it style” but I would disagree. Some buttery Chardonay’s are admittedly truly awful due to having no acidity, but buttery Chardonnay with acidity keeps balance and flavour to a tee.
So, how does it taste beyond butter? Picture tropical and ripe fruits with some oaky winemaking influence. Peach, mango , vanilla, cream, smoke, lemon and perhaps a touch of banana all culminate in a well balanced wine. Their initial recommendation unimaginatively stretches to burgers again, but there are more fast-foods that exist (who knew?). I’d suggest going for a Gyros wrap, sauces and all, or a big cheesy pizza. What they do nail is the sweet pairing: pancakes topped with caramelised banana, maple syrup and bacon.
