Your Guide to Pairing Wine With Classic Cookout Dishes

"There are a lot of things that go with a hamburger," Isle maintains, but he suggests a "fairly big, robust red," like a Napa Valley Cabernet, old vine Zinfandel from California, or Rioja from Spain.

Try: A classic cheeseburger with 2009 Folie à Deux Cabernet Sauvignon

Source: Flickr user pokpok

Hot dogs are a vehicle for the sauce, but if you're talking strictly a classic American cookout hot dog with a little bit of mustard and ketchup and a bun, Ray's got one answer for you: bubbles. "I'm a big fan of Champagne with hot dogs," he says. "Most hot dogs are fairly salty, and Champagne is great for salt."

Try: Classic or bacon-wrapped dogs with Champagne Eric Isselée

Source: Flickr user Peter Lindberg

Isle eschews the predictable pairing with something a little different: "I think a lot of people would [suggest] a big buttery Chardonnay, but then you'd get butter compounded by butter — a mouthful of butter." Instead, he suggests a stainless-steel-fermented Chardonnay: "Ripe Summer corn can be sweet; you get a lot of sugar, so you need some acidity with that to cut through the butter."

Try: Grilled corn with herbed butter and 2011 Estancia Monterey County Unoaked Chardonnay

Source: Flickr user Ian Collins

To cut through all that rich mayonnaise, Isle recommends an aromatic, unoaked white, like Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino, or Albariño.

Try: Tyler Florence's potato salad with 2012 Pomelo Sauvignon Blanc

Source: Flickr user Stacy Spensley

Isle has one great answer for all those vegetal flavors: Grüner Veltliner. "Grüner Veltliner's the great 'pair it with really green vegetable' wine. It's got its own little pea shoot character to it, and it works really well with asparagus, broccoli, peas," he says.

Try: Grilled asparagus and mushrooms with 2010 Domäne Wachau Federspiel Terrassen Grüner Veltliner

Source: Flickr user Seth Anderson