Odd Pair: Barbecue Beef Sandwiches & Malbec
Everyone knows that you usually pair red wine with beef. But what if that beef is brisket and it's smothered in tangy barbecue sauce? The pairing gets a little more interesting. 
Wanting to get as far away from Thanksgiving leftovers as possible, we picked up Goode Company sliced beef sandwiches for lunch on Saturday. Thinly sliced brisket doused in tangy barbecue sauce on a toasted hamburger bun - this is the perfect cure for a turkey hangover. We learned our lesson last week about trusting our wine-pairing knowledge. So this time, we asked the experts at Whole Foods to pick out the perfect wine for our delicious barbecue sandwiches.
After the obligatory odd look, Sally Swiss suggested a Domaine Jean Bousquet Malbec. "The spiciness of the barbecue sauce needs a red wine with a spicy finish." She was right. The light, spicy red was a perfect complement to the slightly sweet and tangy barbecue sauce. Not that we doubted Swiss's recommendation, but we were surprised at how well the wine paired with our sandwiches. We wouldn't drink it with a juicy steak, but it had just the right amount of heaviness for brisket. Swiss also recommended a Red Zinfandel, but we stuck with the Argentinean Malbec.
The good news is that we liked the wine so much that we are going back for more this weekend. The not-so-good news is that we will probably still grab a cold beer to go with our barbecue beef sandwiches next time.
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