The grocery store near my home had a sale on what they call “pub burgers,” which are essentially half pound hamburger patties, pre-formed, and ready to be taken right out of the package and placed on the grill. Generally, I prefer to buy my ground beef in bulk and form my own burgers, but in this case it was cheaper to get them pre-made. Basically, it was like winning the lazy lottery. It had been a long work week and I had suffered through a couple of disappointing hamburger experiences from a large purveyor that was the only lunch option near work, I needed a win.
The trick I’ve found to making a great hamburgers at home is just to do all those little extra things that no one else is willing bother with. Toast the bun with a little butter, caramelize the onion, buy an actual block of good cheese and slice it yourself, just the act of performing these small efforts will make the final product better than anything you’ve had from a restaurant. The final step, the thing that will elevate it beyond your wildest expectations, is to find the right wine.
Wine and hamburgers may seem counter-intuitive to some of you, but I take some kind of perverse pleasure in pairing fine wine with simple workman’s fare. If you make a good hamburger, with a little aged cheddar, and maybe a splash of olive oil, then pair it with the right Cabernet Sauvignon, it can euphoric.
That’s what I was going for here, but it isn’t quite what happened. Like a lot of Americans, when I think about Cabernet Sauvignon, I’m really thinking about California Cabernet Sauvignon. So, when I bought a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Macedonia, it didn’t quite perform the same. In these moments, it’s easy to look for fault in the wine for not living up to our expectations, but I’d never encountered a bottle of Cab from Macedonia, was it really fair for me to think it would taste the same as a bottle of wine from California? I don’t think so.
As it was, the Macedonian wine was great, but lighter and more fruity than what I expected from a Cab. The tannin was there, but didn’t slap me in the face and, therefore, wasn’t enough to cut through the fat of the hamburger and the cheddar as I had hoped. In short, I had a great wine and a great hamburger, they just didn’t pair as well as they could have. If I had made something with pork, maybe bbq or a braised dish with the right sauce, the combination would have been divine. Next time I’ll know.
According to Bovin Winery’s website, this Cabernet is part of the “Classic” collection, which is their third tier of wines. The grapes come from the Tikveš district of the Vardar River Valley wine region in central Macedonia. There are Cabernet Sauvignon wines in the upper two tiers made from selected grapes or vintages, and given time to age in oak. The grapes in this particular wine would be those not from exceptional vintages or the best of their particular harvest. All bottles labeled as Cabernet Sauvignon are 100% varietal wines.
It’s important to try new things. Even if I didn’t get the exact experience I wanted, it gave me two solid ideas for the future. 1) I want to revisit this same wine with a different dish to see how it performs and 2) I’m going to look for one of those premium Macedonian cabs that spent a little time in the barrel next time I want a good burger wine.
