Ultimate Wine Pairings For 5 of LA's Most Popular Burgers

Burgers and beer are two peas in a pod, no? What about beer and wine? Below, Bestia wine director Maxwell Leer shares his thoughts on ideal pairs for five of the city's most prized burgers from Rustic Canyon, Father's Office, Hinano Cafe, Apple Pan, and Comme Ça.

1) Rustic Canyon
Rustic Canyon Burger
Pairing: Paolo Rinaldini 'Pronto' Lambrusco Secco is a completely dry frizzante red wine made of the Salamino, Marani and Ancellota grapes in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. 'Pronto' is lambrusco that is made in the traditional method (according to Lambrusco expert James Cox), meaning that the wine is not amabile or sweet at all! This sparkling red blend is 11% abv, bright purple, lightly tannic, dry and is definitely a worthwhile guzzler alongside the sour acidity of remoulade and the sweetness of caramelized onions.

2) Father's Office
The Office Burger
Pairing: Olivier Lemasson 'Pow Blop Whiz' pétillant naturel Brut Rosé is made of Pineau D'Aunis and Grolleau grapes in the Touraine region of the Loire Valley of France. Otherwise known as a "pet nat" to wine people, this is a style very similar to the Zanotto 'Col Fondo' where secondary fermentation occurs in bottle trapping the yeast and C02; hence, the pétillant (or, fizzy) style occurs naturally. Pinned as a patio-pounder wine, 'Pow Blop Whiz' is 11% abv, has clean fruit flavors and has a bone-dry acidity that will karate chop the arugula and bacon aboard this burger.

3) Hinano Cafe (or a dive-bar burger of any creed!)
World Famous Hamburger
Pairing: Zanotto 'Col Fondo' Prosecco is a light frizzante wine made from the Glera grape in Veneto, Italy. 'Col Fondo' translates from Italian to mean 'With the Sediment' as the secondary fermentation of the wine takes place in bottle, trapping the residual C02 and yeast; a process not too dissimilar from a hefeweizen beer. Zanotto 'Col Fondo' is 11% abv, clean, cold and quaffable. En lieu of a PBR, what other effervescent drink would highlight Heinz Ketchup and American Cheddar with as much pride as a lightly carbonated and salty prosecco?

4) Apple Pan
Steak Burger/Hickory Burger
Pairing: German Gilabert is a producer in Penedès, Spain whose project 'Vino de Terruños' ('Wine of Terroirs') yields some of the finest Brut Nature Rosado Cava in the world. Brut Nature is the driest style of all sparkling wine methods, meaning that residual sugar in the wine is as close to zero as it gets. Made of Trepat and Grenache grapes from Catalonian terroirs, German Gilabert Brut Nature Rosado Cava is 11.5% abv, and is packed with bangin' bubbles and deep/dry fruit flavors built to blast the crunch of cold iceberg lettuce and pickles stacked on Apple Pan's patty.

5) Comme Ça
The Comme Ça Burger
Pairing: Ameztoi 'Rubentis' Txakoli Rosado is an ethereal sparkler made of Hondaribbi Beltza and Hondarribi Zuri in the D.O of Getaria Bizkaiko on the Coast of Northern Basque Country in Spain; grape vines literally coexist with the ocean here. With an abv of 10.5'ish%, 'Rubentis' is salty, tangy and a super light tongue-teaser; if only Night + Market sold 'Rubentis' towers?Seriously, 'Rubentis' is the best all-around burger wine of all time, and in the instance of Comme Ça, is the perfect liquid counterpart to a mammoth mound of boeuf et fromage.
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— Maxwell Leer