Savory beef brisket is delicious with a bold red wine. We cover wine pairing options for brisket, including a Bordeaux from Pessac-Léognan as well as a Southern Rhône red wine from Gigondas. Our recipe instructions are for a small, 2 lb beef brisket. Disclosue: the Pessac-Léognan wine discussed here was providing as a complimentary sample.
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Recipe inspiration
Somehow I hadn’t gotten around to making beef brisket before. Then all of a sudden I had two small briskets in the freezer from Walden Local, the meat share program we joined in 2020
It was time to figure things out. Glad I did, as we now get brisket with some regularity from our Walden local meat shares during the winter. Our Cook Local podcast episode 18 is a good way to learn more about Walden Local Meat.
Of course, along with finding a recipe, I started thinking about what wine pairs with brisket.
My college class foodies group on Facebook has been very active recently. Low and behold, one of the recipes shared in response to my query came from the founder of CellarTracker. Not surprisingly, his family brisket recipe came with extensive suggestions about wine pairings!
Looking for another great beef recipe from the oven? Be sure to check out our classic Spoon Roast recipe, which we serve with horseradish cream.
What wine goes with brisket?
We will start with some quick notes about wine to serve with brisket, followed by more details on the pairings we have tried.
Eric’s suggestions for wine pairing with brisket started with Southern Rhône varietals. He mentioned some favorite Châteauneuf-du-Papes he likes with brisket, and also noted nearby villages can be great options for this meal at a lower cost. We tried one from Gigondas that worked well.
Staying in France, we have also enjoy this brisket recipe with a red wine from the Bordeaux appellation Pessac-Léognan.
My friend Eric, who clearly has more brisket experience than me, suggests Spanish or Italian reds with good acidity as alternative pairings for brisket. Stay away from big Aussie Shiraz or California Cabs for this dish, he suggests.
A Sangiovese or Barbera come to mind for a Italian wine to serve with brisket. Picking up on the Barbera idea, Culinary Adventures with Camilla had success paired her brisket recipe with a blend of Syrah, Barbera and Petite Verdot from Israel.
The Bordeaux we paired was Merlot based, so you might also consider trying that varietal for your brisket wine pairing.
Rhône wine pairing for brisket
For my first time making this braised brisket recipe, I figured I would head to the wine shop and grab a bottle or two from the Southern Rhône to test with the meal.
I picked out a Domaine de Piaugier Gigondas along with a Côtes du Rhône AOC wine. The initial plan was to open the Gigondas the night I cooked the brisket, then the entry level CDR with some leftovers the next night.
Alas, while the brisket recipe will benefit from some tweaking based on more experience with it, the first attempt was delicious! And our 15 y.o. son definitely agreed, and thus there wasn’t a night two to test it with the other Côtes du Rhône.
So as I mentioned, I picked out the 2016 Domaine de Piaugier Gigondas (appx. $35, 14.5% ABV), a blend of old vine Grenache (65%), Syrah (15%) and Mourvedre (20%).
Tasting Notes: This Gigondas is deep inky purple in the glass.
I got a big burst of violets on the nose. On the palate, blackberry fruit with light chocolate notes. Notable acidity and hints of slate.
The wine was still a bit tight upon first pouring, it opened nicely in the glass. Definitely seems like to could benefit from a few years of aging, as suggested by the label notes.
Pairing Assessment: This Gigondas is a great wine pairing for a savory beef brisket! The weight of the wine is just right for the beef dish. The fruit notes matched the sauce nicely, and the wine had the acidity needed for the sauce.
About Gigondas
Gigondas is a Southern Rhône AOC village located about 10 miles southwest of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Thus, it can be a good option for quality wines with a similar style to its more well-known neighbor, for a relatively modest price.
Domaine de Piaugier: Coming into this red wine pairing for brisket, I was more familiar with Piaugier’s white Rhône blend, which I grab regularly.
Most recently, I paired it with our Pan Seared Salmon recipe, with good results.
This article prompted me to learn a bit more about Domaine de Piaugier, and I found this helpful article from Charles Neal Selections.
Jean-Marc Autran, who comes from a long line of wine growers, produced the first Domaine de Piaugier wine in 1985. Over time, they have grown to produce from 3.5 hectares of Gigondas, 12.5 hectares of Sablet (I’ve enjoyed their Sablet red several times), and 14 hectares of Côtes du Rhône.
All of the Domaine de Piaugier grapes are hand harvested. Their vines are generally 25 to 50 years old, at their peak potential. They have a number small plots with a variety of soil types. Their wines are made from the whole clusters.
Bordeaux pairing
I recently had a red wine to try from the Pessac-Léognan appellation in Bordeaux for an article on the region. I figured it would be worth trying the wine with this braised brisket recipe!
We opened the 2019 Château Ferran Pessac-Léognan Red Wine($23, 14.5% ABV) to go with this brisket recipe. This is a Merlot dominated blend, unusual for the Left Bank of Bordeaux.
This nose of the wine has notes of lead pencil and brambles. Black cherry fruit on the palate and a touch of vanilla. Tannins are well-integrated tannins. This wine is definitely a good value for a quality Bordeaux red.
As you might expect, the Château Ferran Pessac-Léognan is another very good choice for pairing with brisket.
Key Ingredients For Our Brisket Pairing
For starters, for wine pairing purposes it is important to note that the version of brisket I made is a savory braise, with a flavor profile and approach similar to that of a New England pot roast.
Key ingredients driving the flavor are the onions, garlic, carrots and the sauce, which has more ketchup than you might expect! Oh yes, and wine is used in the braise. But I couldn’t give up a big portion of a Rhône wine; I opted for an inexpensive Portuguese red for my cooking wine.
The savory ingredients set up a Rhône wine pairing nicely! And you want some acidity in the wine pairing, due in part to the ketchup.
If you were making more of a Texas style beef brisket, with a spice rub that includes chili powder, you are probably going to want to go in a different direction with your wine pairing. I would be inclined to go for more of a Syrah based red wine–perhaps from the Northern Rhône. Or maybe a Zinfandel.
Cooking a Small Beef Brisket
Another key factor in making this recipe is that our brisket was much smaller than most of the cuts I saw in recipes I reviewed.
We were cooking a 2 lb brisket, whereas most of the recipes I saw were talking about a four to six pound brisket. So I needed to figure out the cooking time.
I saw some suggestions to cook the brisket for about one hour per pound. But I figured I needed more than two hours for this cut, especially with the friend who shared his family recipe warning about the grave dangers of undercooking brisket (danger to the palate, not health!).
I wound up starting by braising the 2 lb brisket for 3 hours at 325 degrees.
A tip I came across suggested sticking a fork into the brisket, and when it is done it should come out easily. Our brisket didn’t quite pass that test at 3 hours, so I put it in for another 20 minutes.
I will try the timing again with another 2 lb brisket. I can report it was delicious after our 3 hours 20 minutes of cooking time! It did not slice nicely though, it had gotten so soft. So I am thinking 3 hours or just a bit over might be perfect for the 2 pound brisket.
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Small Oven Braised Brisket
A delicious, savory beef brisket recipe. Instructions for slowly braising a small, 2 lb beef brisket in the oven. We took a friend’s family brisket recipe and one from Celebrate! by Sheila Lukins, shared by another friend, as starting points for this recipe.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 3 hrs 20 mins
- Total Time: 3 hrs 30 mins
- Yield: 5 servings 1x
- Category: main
- Method: braising
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 1 ½ cups red wine – a Cotes du Rhone would be great, but other dry red wines will do.
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp paprika
Other brisket ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 2 lb beef brisket
- 2 large onions, thinly sliced
- 4 carrots, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Make the sauce: Whisk together the sauce ingredients–wine, ketchup, broth, soy sauce, sugar, thyme and paprika–in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Brown the meat: Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium high in a Dutch oven or oven proof copper pan. Add the brisket, salt and pepper to taste, and brown on one side for about 5 minutes. When browned, turn the brisket over to brown the other side. After browning both sides, remove the brisket from the pan, and set aside on a platter.
- Cook the veggies: Add the other tablespoon olive oil to the pan or Dutch oven on medium high. Stir in the onions, stirring occasionally. Cook until they start to turn brown and caramelize, which takes about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and carrots, and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Start braising: Add the beef brisket back to the pan, placing it fat side up on top of the onions and carrots. Pour the sauce over the brisket. The liquid should cover between ½ to ⅔ of the meat. Cover the pan, and move to the oven. Braise for a total of at least 3 hours.
- Turn the brisket: After two hours of braising, remove the brisket from the oven to check the liquid levels and turn the brisket over. If the liquid level has dipped below ½ of the meat, add a bit of stock or wine to bring it back to that level. Put the brisket back in the oven, and braise for another hour, for a total of 3 hours braising time.
- Finish the brisket: After 3 hours of braising time, check the brisket by inserting a large fork into the meat. You should be able to pull it out easily. At this 3 hour point, it may well be ready to serve, or you might choose to return it to the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes of braising.
- Finish sauce and serve: When the brisket is done braising, remove it to a platter. There will be a nice sauce remaining in the pan. Simmer the sauce on medium low heat, while the brisket rests for about 10 minutes. Slice the brisket, and serve topped with some sauce. We served it with mashed potatoes and the red Gigondas wine. Cheers!
Notes
- These instructions are designed for a small brisket of approximately 2 lbs. If you have a larger brisket of 4 pounds or more, an hour of braising time per pound is one rule of thumb. But you may want to consult recipes for larger briskets for more timing details.
- As noted, you can use a Dutch oven for this recipe. But for this and similar braising recipes, we have been going with our Copper Chef Pan.
Winophiles Explore the Rhône
Be sure to visit these great articles about Rhône wines from my fellow Winophiles bloggers!
- A Côtes du Rhône from Franck Balthazar and A Deconstructed Pairing by Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles
- A Côtes du Rhône Tasting by Payal at Keep the Peas
- All the Colors of Côtes du Rhône with Famille Perrin by Nicole Ruiz Hudson at Somm’s Table
- A Trio of Côtes du Rhône Pairings by Cam Mann at Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- A Window Into The Côtes du Rhône Through Maison M. Chapoutier by Susannah Gold at Avvinare
- Back on the Rhône Again by Christy Majors
- Beef Tongue Stew with a Côtes du Rhône Gigondas by Wendy Klik at A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Côtes du Rhône and Clearwater Camping: Charcuterie in God’s Country by Terri Steffes at Our Good Life
- Côtes du Rhône: Essential French Wines by Jill Barth at L’Occassion
- Lamb Meatballs Paired with Côtes du Rhône by Jane Niemeyer at Always Ravenous
- Leaning Savory with a 2016 Alain Jaume Côtes du Rhône by Linda Whipple at My Full Wine Glass
- Rhône Roam #3: Crozes-Hermitage Is Syrah, Condrieu Equals Viognier — Paired with Fish Dishes by Gwendolyn Alley at Wine Predator
- Rhône Wine with Brisket by David Crowley at Cooking Chat
- Turkey Does the Côtes du Rhône by Andrea Lemuix at The Quirky Cork
- What the Heck is Côtes du Rhône Villages? by Mel at Wining with Mel
Camilla M. Mann
Thanks for linking to my brisket recipe. Now you have be craving brisket, David, and we are only eating animal proteins three times a week these days…and this weekend is full. So, I’ll have to put it on the rotation next week. I love that your son enjoyed this so much that you didn’t have a night two to pair with another wine. That means you did a good job, Dad. 😉 Thanks for joining in the fun and games this month.
Cooking Chat
Yes, we try to limit our meat, too. Although I’m a bit more flexible in how I count it when it is grass fed beef such as we had with this one. The family enjoying the meal is always the best sign!
Christy Majors
Great pairing! I can almost taste the brisket and Gigondas. Making a mental note to remember this next time I make brisket.
Cooking Chat
Thanks Christy, it is definitely a pairing to try!
Andrea
I love that you just have a couple briskets in your freezer. What a great pairing though. I think the thing I like most about Rhone wines (when I can get them!) is both how savory they are but also how they support savory and earthy foods.
Cooking Chat
Yes, the earthiness is great! Do the Rhone style wines from Turkey have that same quality of earthiness?
Wendy Klik
I love my pairing of Gigondas with braised beef as well. I’m sure that by the time you make your next brisket it will be perfection.
Cooking Chat
I will have to check out what you came up with!
robincgc
Last year, I had a delicious brisket that a friend made sous vide. It was amazing! I think he may have seared it on the grill first. We have a sous vide machine and I have been pondering on trying that. I wonder if that preparation will pair as well with the Gigondas?
Cooking Chat
I still haven’t gotten into sous vide but that idea of grilling then sous vide sounds good! I think it could work if it’s more savory as a opposed to chili driven rub or something.
Nicole Ruiz-Hudson
Mmmm — this brisket looks so comforting. I could definitely go for this as the weather gets cooler.
Linda Whipple, CSW
Wow – I wasn’t aware that brisket was possible in so many variations! I only know my MIL’s pot-roast version: ketchup, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Sounds perfect for a Rhone red, though!