Fire and Wine™
The Magical Balance Between Smoke, Fire, Grill and Wine
The Cooking Fuel You Use Changes What You Pour
Most wine pairing advice starts at the plate. Mine starts at the fire.
The fuel you choose — lump charcoal, live hardwood, a specific wood species (even gas or pellet grills) — doesn't just heat your food: it seasons it. Your fuel adds aromatic compounds that land on the surface of everything you cook, shifting the flavour profile in ways that matter a lot for the wine in your glass. A cherry-smoked pork shoulder and a mesquite-smoked pork shoulder are, from a wine pairing standpoint, two different dishes. The wine that shines with one may be completely wrong for the other.
That's the idea behind Fire & Wine™: a discipline, and a body of content, built on the premise that fuel is the missing variable in outdoor cooking and wine pairing. I've spent more than 25 years cooking over live fire, and developed the Northern Barbecue™ Method as a curriculum-based approach to teaching authentic hardwood cooking. The Fire & Wine series applies that same thoughtful approach to what goes in your glass.
Fire & Wine: Start Here
New to Fire & Wine? These three posts lay the foundation:
Backyard BBQ & Wine Pairing: Gas vs. Charcoal vs. Wood-Fired Explained — Why fuel type is the first pairing decision you make, before you even think about the protein.
How to Pair Wine with Charcoal-Grilled and Smoked Foods — A deep dive into what charcoal and smoke do to food flavour, and how to match wine accordingly.
Hickory, Oak, Cherry & Maple: How Wood Smoke Changes Your Wine Choice — Wood species as a pairing variable. Seven woods, seven flavour profiles, wine direction for each.
Also read my post on The Best Wines for Your Summer Barbecue on my wine and spirits site: Grand One Lounge.
More Fire & Wine Content
By Fuel & Wood Type
Backyard BBQ & Wine Pairing: Gas vs. Charcoal vs. Wood-Fired Explained
Hickory, Oak, Cherry & Maple: How Wood Smoke Changes Your Wine Choice
The Oak Connection: Why the Wood You Cook Over and the Wood in Your Wine Barrel Are Related — coming soon
By Protein
Fire & Wine: The Complete Guide to Sausages — coming soon
Fire & Wine: Steak and Red Meat — coming soon
Fire & Wine: Chicken and Poultry — coming soon
Fire & Wine: Fish and Seafood — coming soon
Niagara & Canadian Wine
Northern Barbecue Meets Niagara: Pairing VQA Wines with Live-Fire Cooking — coming soon
Niagara Gamay and the Grill: A Natural Match — coming soon
Smoke, Fire, Grill and Wine
About my Approach
I am Chef Mike Belobradic — founder of Smoke Fire Grill™, creator of the Northern Barbecue™ Method, and one of Canada's live-fire cooking authorities, based in Oakville, Ontario.
My interest in wine isn't academic. It's practical. I hold WSET Level 1 accreditation in Wine (and Spirits), I am a trained KCBS Barbecue Judge, and I've spent years at the intersection of serious fire cooking and serious wine appreciation. When I write about wine, I'm writing as someone who has cooked the food, managed the fire, and poured the glass — often at the same time.
The Wine Country Next Door
With the Niagara Wine Region in my backyard (and other Ontario wine regions not too far away), the Fire & Wine series will increasingly draw on VQA wines and local producers as content grows.
The Niagara Wine Region produces wines that pair well with barbecue and live-fire cooking — and as the Fire & Wine series grows, it will continue to draw on VQA wines and local producers as a showcase for what the Northern Barbecue™ philosophy looks like at the table. Of course, the grape varieties covered can be translated to work with wines from any region around the globe when it comes to pairing fire and wine.
For Media and Other Inquiries
I'm available as a media source, speaker, and live-fire cooking and wine pairing consultant for:
Food and lifestyle media seeking a Canadian expert on outdoor cooking and wine
Niagara wineries collaborations and wine events looking for a Fire & Wine pairing speaker or experience
Culinary events, festivals, and consumer shows
With more than 25 years of live-fire experience, formal culinary training, WSET accreditation (Wine and Spirits), and a track record as a KCBS Barbecue Judge, I bring a credentialled, practical perspective that's you won’t find elsewhere in the outdoor cooking space. Contact me to learn more.
