The Case For Your Summer BBQ

There is a version of the backyard barbecue where the food is good and the wine is an afterthought. Then there is the version where someone thought about both. The Backyard 6 is built for the second version: six wines from City Winery's cellar and tap program that were chosen because they belong next to a grill, not just a table.

What follows is not a pairing chart. It's a host's guide to the most satisfying warm-weather drinking we know of.

The Backyard 6 ships free. Order one six-pack and it arrives at your door at no extra cost. If you're hosting more than a few people — or you just want to make sure you don't run out — grab two six-packs as a full case and get free shipping plus 20% off. It's the right call for anyone planning a real gathering.

The Backyard 6

Harmony Drops Chardonnay

Your anchor for anything from the sea or the garden

This is the Chardonnay that makes people reconsider Chardonnay. Bright acidity and good structure mean it does something most whites can't: it holds its own against rich textures without disappearing into them.

Pull it out when the grill has seafood on it. Butter-basted scallops with a good sear, breaded halibut, cod with lemon and herbs — the wine's acidity cuts right through the richness without competing with the char. If you're cooking for guests who don't eat meat, fried artichokes with herbed aioli achieve exactly the same effect. So does a creamy vegetable risotto topped with crispy onions, where the wine lifts what the dish wants to be heavy.

A note for the end of the meal: Harmony Drops Chardonnay sits surprisingly well next to a slice of key lime pie or a soft, bloomy goat cheese. If you're doing a cheese board before the grill fires up, start here.

Serve cold. Keep a second bottle in the cooler.

Spring St Pinot Noir

The wine for the long, unhurried afternoon

There are Pinot Noirs that demand attention and there are ones that reward the lack of it. Spring St is the second kind. Easy-drinking without being simple, it's the bottle you open when the coals are still getting going and no one is in a hurry to eat.

For the grazing hour: lighter cheeses work beautifully here. Fontina, marinated mozzarella, provolone. A plate of grilled vegetable crudité or bruschetta with good tomatoes. When the grill is ready, go toward lighter barbecue fare: chicken and vegetable kabobs, brats with mustard and pickled onions. This is not the wine for the heaviest cuts.

For a real moment: if you can get your hands on a crispy porchetta, slice it thin and put a spoonful of spicy jam on the plate alongside it. Spring St Pinot Noir is one of those pairings that surprises people who thought they already knew what Pinot Noir was for.

Big City Red Cabernet Sauvignon

The wine that can take the hit

Most Cabernets sit in the corner waiting for something fancy. Big City Red doesn't need the occasion — it thrives on contrast. Salt and structure, bold flavors, food that doesn't hold back. This is the bottle for the part of the menu that doesn't apologize for itself.

It works with a salty pub mix or charcuterie board while you're waiting for the main event. Soft French cheeses — a ripe Camembert, specifically — are an underrated move. For the grill: a Nashville hot chicken sandwich, pulled pork with pickles, or an impossible burger loaded with grilled onions, blue cheese, and arugula. Every one of those pairings has enough going on to need a wine that can keep up. Big City Red does.

This is also the bottle that stands alone. If someone just wants a glass of red and isn't eating yet, pour this one.

Au Naturel Syrah

The Mediterranean turn

Syrah has a warmth to it that works with bold, herb-forward flavors the way few other reds do. Au Naturel leans into that. It wants olive oil, garlic, acid, and char.

The big move: pasta with a tomato-based sauce, meatballs, and as much cheese as you're comfortable putting on a plate. This is a dinner-party dish that costs almost nothing and drinks like a meal worth remembering. In a backyard setting, lamb gyros with feta and fresh herbs are the other obvious call. Keep it Mediterranean and the wine follows you there.

For something lighter, a caprese salad with good tomatoes and fresh basil gives the Syrah space to open up. Szechuan chicken, with its warmth and depth, is a less obvious pairing that works better than it sounds. And for the table before the grill: fresh burrata or fried mozzarella sticks. Simple, rich, and exactly what this wine is made to sit next to.

Lake Effect Cabernet Franc

The wine that makes the sides the story

Cabernet Franc often gets treated as a supporting player, but Lake Effect earns a different kind of attention. It's a food wine in the truest sense: it makes everything around it taste more like itself.

That quality is especially evident with the parts of the meal that usually get less thought than they deserve. Sausage-cornbread stuffing is a revelation with this wine. Candied yams and brown sugar baked butternut squash, the kind of dishes that show up at summer gatherings and disappear without anyone really remarking on them, become something worth talking about alongside Lake Effect Cab Franc.

For a cheese board: harder, aged cheeses work best here. Grana Padano or Manchego, both of which have enough salt and structure to match the wine without overwhelming it.

This is the bottle that makes people ask what they're drinking.

Water Tower Sauvignon Blanc

The one for heat and acid and bright, sharp flavors

Water Tower Sauvignon Blanc was made for foods with citrus, brine, and tropical notes. Where the Chardonnay reaches toward richness, this wine wants to cut through it.

Ceviche is the obvious call, and it's obvious for a reason. Tuna poke bowl with sesame and soy. Green papaya salad with fish sauce and lime. These are dishes with enough acid of their own to need a wine that meets them at the same register, not one that backs down from the conversation.

For the grill itself: grilled pineapple. Served alone as a side or caramelized on skewers, it's one of those combinations that seems simple until you taste it.

Serve this one as cold as it can go.

Building the Night Around It

The Backyard 6 is designed to cover the full arc of a summer gathering: a cold white open before the grill heats up, a Pinot Noir for the slow hour, bold reds for the main event, and a Sauvignon Blanc on ice for whenever the temperature calls for it.

A few notes worth keeping in mind as a host.

Temperature matters more than most people think. Whites and rosés should be cold, not cellar temperature. Lighter reds like Spring St Pinot Noir are better slightly chilled than served at room temperature on a warm day. Big reds like Big City Red and Au Naturel Syrah can come out of a cool spot about twenty minutes before you plan to pour them.

Let the food dictate the sequence. The Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are openers. The Pinot Noir is for the grazing hour. The three bigger reds follow the grill. The Cab Franc, with its affinity for starches and sides, is worth holding until the full spread is on the table.

Don't overthink the glass. Outdoors, in the heat, with food moving from grill to table, a simple stem works fine. What matters is that the wine is cold when it needs to be cold and that you've thought about what's in it.

The case handles the thinking. The summer handles the rest.