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Hey Reader—

As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter, I spent the weekend out in the Willamette Valley, hitting up a couple of wineries: J.K. Carriere and Balsall Creek.

It was a great Saturday, and the special Oktoberfest pairing menu at Balsall Creek, built around sausage, was a highlight.

So, as promised, this issue is dedicated to sausage and wine. It's good timing too, since sausage has a way of showing up in so many fall and winter dishes — soups, stews, and, in my family, my brother-in-law’s sage and rosemary challah bread stuffing (homemade bread and all) with chanterelle mushrooms and Italian sausage at Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite dish on the table (pies aside).

So let’s get into it.

Cheers,

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Sip Smarter: Your Weekly Wine Lesson

How to Pair Wine With Sausage

Balsall Creek’s Oktoberfest Tasting at their Estate House in Newberg ran four German-inspired courses, each pairing one of their wines with sausage from Otto’s Sausage Kitchen:

• First course: 2023 Aligoté with Bavarian Bockwurst
• Second course: 2022 Gamay Noir with Bratwurst
• Third course: 2022 Estate Pinot Noir with Smoked Garlic Kielbasa
• Dessert course: Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc with Apple Strudel (more on that one below)

But the tasting also confirmed something I’d been wanting to dig into: most people’s instinct with sausage is to reach for beer, not wine. And beer is a completely legitimate choice here. But sausage is actually one of the most wine-friendly foods out there, once you understand what it needs.

Why pairing wine with sausage can sometimes be tricky

Sausage is fatty, rich, and often heavily seasoned, which means it can be a lot for a wine to stand up to. The two things that cut through that fat and balance that seasoning are acidity and, in some cases, a touch of sweetness.

And bold reds can sometimes work against sausage. Sausage’s fat and protein do a nice job softening harsh tannins, but some flavor combinations still clash. Big reds with high alcohol and heavy oak can push spicy heat into unpleasant territory, or steamroll more delicate herbal notes.

Why light, crisp whites work so well

I actually learned this firsthand back in August. Tony and I ate an incredible amount of sausage while we were in the Dolomites, and I was blown away by how well it paired with the lighter, crisp whites from nearby Alto Adige. Most people assume sausage, being rich and fatty, calls for red wine. But that bright acidity in a good white does more work than a red ever could: it cuts right through the richness instead of getting weighed down by it.

That was exactly the logic behind Balsall Creek’s first course, too — that Aligoté (a high-acid, often Chablis-adjacent white grape) paired with Bockwurst. Same principle.

A quick cheat sheet to sausage + wine pairing

German-style sausages (bratwurst, bockwurst, weisswurst): Dry German or Austrian whites are the classic move — Riesling or Grüner Veltliner. Both have the acid to cut the richness and just enough weight to stand up to the pork. Or stay in the spirit of Balsall Creek’s menu with a crisp, high-acid white like Aligoté.

Smoked or garlicky sausages (kielbasa, andouille): These have enough smokiness and structure to handle a light-bodied red. Pinot Noir or a cru Beaujolais (Gamay) are classic choices — enough fruit and freshness to match the smoke without fighting it.

Italian sausage (fennel, herbs): Sangiovese-based wines, like Chianti, are the natural partner. The herbal, savory notes in the wine echo the fennel and oregano in the sausage, and the acidity handles the fat. (Noted, since I will be pairing the Flipturn Cellars 2023 Sangiovese with my brother-in-law’s stuffing this Thanksgiving)

Spicy sausage (chorizo, merguez, Cajun-style): Go for a wine with ripe fruit and a touch of sweetness rather than more acid or tannin — an off-dry rosé, a Lambrusco, or a fruit-forward Zinfandel or Grenache all work. Sweetness is what tames heat, not tannin.

Rich, fatty sausage in general: Sparkling wine is a bit of a secret weapon here. The acidity and bubbles both cut fat and reset your palate between bites.

Next time sausage is on the table, skip the instinct to reach for the biggest red you own. Go for acid first, then decide if you need a little sweetness.

A few phrases to try at a wine shop:

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Vine To Glass

Wine Of The Week: 2024 Balsall Creek Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc

The dessert course of Balsall Creek’s Oktoberfest Tasting was their 2024 Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, the first dessert wine they’ve ever made, paired with apple strudel.

It was a lovely pairing, and it also got me thinking ahead to the holidays.

Late harvest wines are some of the best dessert-table bottles out there, and this felt like the perfect excuse to stock up for the season. So let’s talk about what a late harvest wine actually is, and where else you can use one.

What is a “late harvest” wine?

The name is pretty literal: these are wines made from grapes left on the vine well past normal harvest time. The longer grapes hang, the more water they lose and the more their sugars concentrate, so by the time they’re finally picked, there’s simply more sugar packed into each grape than usual.

That extra sugar is what gives late harvest wines their sweetness. Depending on the winemaker, that concentration can happen a few different ways: some grapes are simply left to hang and partially dehydrate (almost raisining on the vine), while in certain regions — Sauternes in France or Trockenbeerenauslese in Germany — it comes from botrytis, or “noble rot,” a fungus that shrivels the grapes and intensifies both sugar and flavor. Either way, the goal is the same: a wine with real sweetness, balanced by enough natural acidity to keep it from tasting cloying.

That’s the other key thing about a good late harvest wine: it should never just taste like sugar. The best ones have bright acidity running underneath all that richness, which is exactly what makes them food wines rather than just a glass of liquid dessert.

How to pair it (beyond apple strudel)

Late harvest wines are some of the most versatile dessert-table bottles you can own, especially heading into the holidays. A few go-tos:

• Apple or pear-based desserts (strudel, tarte tatin, galette)
• Pumpkin pie or anything spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg
• Crème brûlée or other custard-based desserts
• Blue cheese — a classic, slightly underrated pairing, since the sweetness plays beautifully against the salt and funk
• A cheese board in general, especially aged or triple-cream cheeses
• Or skip dessert altogether and pour it alongside foie gras or a rich pâté

This is exactly the kind of bottle I’d tell you to grab a couple of now and tuck away for Thanksgiving or your next holiday gathering. A good late harvest wine is low-effort, high-impact hosting — a dessert pairing that doesn’t just taste like more sugar on top of sugar.

About the producer

If you missed my deeper dive on Balsall Creek a few months back: it’s a family-run estate in the Chehalem Mountains AVA, founded by Jon and Lesli Owens, whose roots in Oregon run eight generations deep. The vineyard is LIVE Certified, Salmon Safe, and Bee Friendly Farming Certified, and it’s dry-farmed, hand-harvested, and solar-powered. Working with winemaker Laurent Montalieu, the Owens grow an impressively broad lineup of estate varietals — Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Meunier, and Aligoté.

Sadly, I think this particular Balsall Creek bottle is club or tasting-room only, but if you’re building out your holiday wine stash, a late harvest wine is a great one to grab — dessert wines like this only get better with a little age, and you’ll be glad to have one on hand when the table’s full and everyone’s asking for a fun nightcap with their pie.

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Cork Report

This Week’s Wine News Roundup

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2. ​8 Rhône Valley Red Wines That Deliver Big Flavor Without a Big Price Tag​
3. ​Polish wine: Five things to know – and 17 wines to try​

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