The Perfect Wine for Rib Eye: This California Cabernet Lives Up to the Meat (and the Moment)

What do you go for wine wise when you plan to host a dinner featuring dry-aged rib eye, a steak that is full of marbling and flavor and richness? One obvious choice is a Cabernet Sauvignon that can stand up to and complement the meat (in this case, a steak from Meats by Linz, a bone-in beauty).

That was what I did this past week, and the bottle was the 2015 Cliff Lede Vineyards Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon, wine made by Christopher Tynan that is drinking well now and that will cellar comfortably for several decades.

To begin, we cooked the steak to rare in a cast-iron skillet (heat the skillet over flame until it achieves a temperature that makes you uncomfortable, then sprinkle some salt in it and sear all sides of the room-temp rib eye, which you’ve rubbed with oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, for 30 to 40 seconds). Next, place the steak in the skillet, which goes into the oven, set at 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cook for two and a half minutes, turn, and cook for two and a half minutes more (thicker steaks might require more time). Remove from oven and put the masterpiece on a rack to rest (five minutes is fine, or 10 if you desire.) Slice thinly, and serve with whatever you desire.

Sautéed mushrooms are wonderful, as are mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus.

To the wine, which we had opened an hour before we sat down at the table. The bouquet will perhaps bring to mind (or nose) pencil shavings, dark cherry, and a touch of cinnamon. A deep ruby-tinged pour, this wine’s tannins are of course a bit tight (buy a bottle to drink with your steak now, and put one aside until 2032), but the mouthfeel is lush and long, a pleasurable and luxurious experience.

Here’s the grape breakdown: 76 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 8 percent Petit Verdot, 7 percent Merlot, and 2 percent Cabernet Franc. It was bottled in July of 2017, and released in February 2018 after 21 months of aging in French oak barrels, 80 percent of which were new. Cases made total 4,385, and it retails for $78.

The fruit here comes from Lede’s Poetry Vineyard and Twin Peaks Vineyard, plus grapes from a few other parcels in the Stags Leap District AVA, which is known for its excellent Cabernet Sauvignon — read a bit about the Judgement of Paris tasting and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars for some enthralling history.

The district’s soils include deposits from the eroded Vaca volcano and clay and loam sediments, a terroir that results in some complex wines. Other pairing ideas? Venison and elk, and hamburgers made with superb meats.

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