Rib Tickler Zinfandel 2021, California, USA

Rib Tickler Zinfandel is a big, bold Californian red from Boutinot’s Rib Tickler range, a set of wines inspired by bourbon and barbecue and made to go with meat cooked low and slow. It is made from Zinfandel, California’s signature red grape, sourced from selected vineyards across the state’s Central Valley, where Boutinot works with growers around Lodi. The Californian wines are made by winemaker Samantha Bailey, and a light touch of oak rounds out the ripe fruit.

In the glass it is a deep plum-red. The nose and palate are full of dark damson, blackcurrant and raspberry fruit, layered with peppery spice. It is rich and generous in the mouth, finishing with just a hint of toasty oak. The style is full-flavoured and fruit-forward, with enough spice to stand up to smoky, charred barbecue flavours.

Serve at around 16–18°C. As the name suggests, it is made for barbecue: try it with sticky ribs, pulled pork, brisket, burgers, chilli con carne and spicy sausages. Rib Tickler Zinfandel is ready to drink now, while its fruit is at its most generous.

Rib Tickler is a range of Californian wines from Boutinot, the wine company founded by Paul Boutinot in 1980 in Stockport, near Manchester, when he began importing French wine for his parents’ restaurant business. Boutinot has since grown into a hands-on winemaking business, with its own teams in France, South Africa and the USA. It began making wine in California in 2007 and works with growers around Lodi, in the northern Central Valley, where cooling breezes from San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento and San Joaquin river deltas help keep the wines fresh rather than baked. Increasingly it sources old-vine and site-specific fruit from particular estates, and its Californian wines are made by winemaker Samantha Bailey. Inspired by bourbon and barbecue, the Rib Tickler wines are designed for meat cooked low and slow.