Wine Pairing Help for Venison & Rack of Lamb

Recommended wine pairings for the following entrees needed.

Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb
creamy polenta cake, mint & sweet pea custard, nicoise vegetables rosemary sauce

Sauteed Venison Medallions
corn scallion spaetzli, spring vegetables, baby bock choy & grand veneur sauce

Kind of easy - perhaps seemingly trite - to suggest mature Bordeaux, Northern Rhone or Chateauneuf du Pape. But it hits all the time. I personally avoid the mint, thought. Don’t like sweet with my hearty red wines.

Last time I had lamb this year I popped both a Northern and a Southern Rhone (2004 Charvin). Loved the pairing.

In my mind, that menu has syrah stamped all over it.

I was thinking Syrah or Pinot. I don’t own any Bordeaux only CA wine

Store bought venison or wild?

Do you own any Halcon?

No, was thinking about a SQN

We eat a lot of lamb and usually pair it with a fuller bodied Pinot Noir. That should be fine with venison too.

FYI, given the spread of chronic wasting disease (a prion disease related to mad cow) in the deer population, you may want to be cautious about eating hunted venison. It’s not clear if CWD can be transmitted to humans, but other prion diseases can be. Occurrence | Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) | Prion Disease | CDC

CWD detected in deer - CDC map.JPG789×720 96.4 KB

I can’t suggest a great match without tasting those specific dishes. I can come over next sunday

Joking aside, the easy option for the Lamb is something fancy from Bordeaux, or equivalent Bdx blends from elsewhere. It’s a classic combo and nothing in the preparation suggests any reason it wouldn’t work really well. That said, most robust reds should be fine with it.

The sauce for the Venison might be a factor in wine choice, and a delicate red could get overwhelmed by it. Whilst the same wine as above might work, I might be tempted by a douro red (e.g. Redoma) or something else with good body / intensity to it, but still with decent acidity.

Syrah out of those two for sure. It should be fine with the lamb and might be pretty ideal for the venison.

I’ve always been a fan of a gigondas with cooked venison; it is one of my favorite pairings, as simple and basic as it may be.

Would be a Syrah for me. A new world 2010 Reynvaan Syrah The Contender or an old world 2009 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Cornas Domaine de Saint Pierre would do it for me.

Petite Sirah with venison

I know the OP only owns CA, but for others who find this thread later, we just had herb crusted rack of lamb with broccoli rabe and lamb jus last night.

'95 BAMA and '67 Produttori and both were an excellent pairing, even if the Produttori did outshine the BAMA pretty handedly.

Easiest pairing in the world - there’s a whole winery plus a vineyard called Herb Lamb. If you’re flush with money, opt for the Colgin version:

For the venison, maybe:

There’s now mandatory test for CWD in Colorado.

Zinfandel or petite sirah.

Rustic old world Syrah with the Venison. Alternatively if you’re in a place that has it, seek out some Baco Noir.

This.

And great pairing.

Ironically, my wife brought home lamb chops unexpectedly today. Just grilled them, perfect medium rare. Paired with a 95 Sociando JG. Most excellent.

And also unexpected, I had popped that JG on Friday, consumed 2/3 of the bottle. Stuck it in the real fridge. We went out last night. So I’m opening it again 48 hours later, and it was singing. Actually better than the first night. Color me surprised here with a 95.

Love that 95 BAMA by the way.