By Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Known as "The Legend" in barbecue circles, champion pit master Mike Mills gets credit for the best ribs we've ever tasted. They define perfection for us, so the only possible enhancement would be to pair them with the ideal wine.

When the opportunity arose the first weekend in June to re-taste Mills's handiwork with a bevy of beautiful wines, we couldn't pass it up. Mills, the force behind barbecue restaurants in southern Illinois and Las Vegas, is also a partner at Blue Smoke in New York, and his crew was among the cooks at the annual Snapple Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. The huge event also offered us the chance to sample other leading pit masters' whole hogs, beef brisket, hot links and other specialties, including the pulled pork made by the award-winning team from Pigs-R-Us restaurant in Martinsville, Va., and the chicken-based Brunswick stew from the Proclamation Stew Crew of Lawrenceville, Va.

Bringing our own wines into such an event involved disguising them by pouring them into empty plastic water bottles and swigging from the bottles between bites. But we're willing to make such sacrifices for our readers.

We started where we'd had the best results at our last barbecue tasting: with rosé wines. The first standout, from Italy, was the 2007 Muri-Gries Alto Adige Lagrein Rosato ($18), created in a working Benedictine monastery that began producing DOC (appellation-controlled) wines in 1947. It's made from the native red grape Lagrein (pronounced "lah-GRINE"), a relative of syrah that produces a light- to medium-bodied yet richly full-flavored wine. Lagrein is well regarded locally and is slowly but deservedly becoming even better known abroad. Our chilled water bottle of this wine was the one we reached for time and time again on the sweltering weekend of our research. Its fruitiness, with notes of cherry, was dominant enough to match the sweetness in barbecue-sauced pulled pork and baked beans.

Ribs in hand, we bumped into Gerry Dawes, an expert in Spanish wines, who tipped us off to what he believes is one of the greatest rosés of Spain: the 2006 or 2007 Artazu Artazuri Garnacha Rosado ($13), made with 100 percent garnacha (grenache). Our favorite of the Spanish rosés we tasted was the 2007 El Coto de Rioja Rosado ($11), a dry, lightly acidic selection made with half garnacha and half tempranillo that stood up well to pork and beef and their accompanying tangy barbecue sauces.

Another light-bodied option, this one from France, is the 2006 Georges Duboeuf "Flower Label" Beaujolais-Villages ($11). It brings a welcome fruitiness to barbecue. Made of 100 percent gamay grapes, it is a step up from simple Beaujolais. Served slightly or even thoroughly chilled, it's refreshing with all but the heaviest barbecue or, for that matter, with a plate of charcuterie.

Our biggest surprise was finding some zinfandels we loved after coming up empty-handed during research for barbecue-friendly bottles last spring, when we tasted more than a dozen over-amped wines, all over 15 percent alcohol. Two wines proved that the classic pairing of 'cue and zin still hangs tough. The firm tannins of the 2006 Summers Napa Valley Villa A ndriana Vineyard Zinfandel ($34) softened as the wine breathed, exposing ripe blackberry and black plum flavors and chocolate malt notes unobscured by its relatively modest 14.2 percent alcohol level. It's delicious with less-spicy beef brisket and ribs. And the stunningly velvety 2006 Artezin Mendocino County Zinfandel ($18) so restored our faith in zin that Karen selected it as her pick this week. Even with the addition of 9 percent petite sirah -- no shrinking violet among grapes -- it was fruit-forward enough to serve as an ideal foil for heartier barbecue dishes, including beef brisket and ribs.

The beautifully balanced 2005 Rosemount Show Reserve GSM ($19), a blend of equal parts grenache and shiraz with a splash of mourvedre, melded with both sweet and spicy barbecue. But we saw Andrew's pick -- the 2006 Rosemount "Diamond Label" Shiraz ($10, or $6.47 at Total Wine) -- as a closer reflection of what most people probably want to spend on wine for a barbecue. It manages to deliver what most want to drink with Texas-style brisket and the like: a big, pleasing, jammy wine, lush with black fruit and hints of dried herbs.

While Mike Mills apparently likes a Bud with his 'cue, his daughter, Amy Mills Tunnicliffe, who co-wrote their "Peace, Love, and Barbecue," prefers hers with champagne. Citing fresh memories of the "Bubble Q" celebration at this year's South Beach Wine & Food Festival, she singled out the Moët & Chandon served there. Over the years, we have enjoyed a bottle or two of the NV Moet & Chandon White Star Champagne ($33), whose bright apple flavor has just a whisper of sweetness, with barbecued chicken and flame-grilled turkey burgers.

In the end, though, we agree with Tunnicliffe that the best choice with barbecue is a rosé sparkler. Why? Many barbecues feature a variety of meats -- chicken, pork, beef, lamb and hot links -- and, if you're lucky, a diverse array of sides including coleslaw, baked beans and hush puppies. That means you want a "social" wine that gets along with lots of different foods.

For an all-American barbecue, all-American options abound, each with a different fruit accent: The NV Domaine Carneros Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine ($36), made by the country's first certified-organic "sparkling winery," tastes of strawberries; the 2004 Kluge SP Rosé Wine ($32) from Virginia's Albemarle County has hints of cherry; and the NV Gruet Methode Champenoise Rosé Brut ($13.50) from New Mexico has notes of raspberry and strawberry.

In fact, there is nothing we can imagine on your next barbecue buffet that won't be enhanced by a sparkling rosé. Indeed, its versatility is the stuff of legends.

Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, authors of "What to Drink With What You Eat" and the forthcoming "The Flavor Bible," can be reached through their Web site,http://www.becomingachef.com, or atfood@washpost.com.