Mack Mode: 063

BBQ & Bubbly: Smoke Meets Sparkle in the South

If you know me, you know I love barbecue and I live for bubbles. So when I got the invite to this year’s BBQ & Bubbly, I already had my corkscrew in my hand.

Set against the backdrop of North Carolina’s rising food and wine scene, BBQ & Bubbly is the creation of sommelier and wine educator Matthew Weiss and his wife, Sarah Weiss. What started as a bold idea, to bring sparkling wine into the world of smoke, fat, fire, and sauce, has now become a genre-bending food-and-wine festival that feels part block party, part master class, part Champagne fantasy. And it works. Brilliantly.

This year’s event took place at Fenton in Cary, NC, and the lineup was serious: smoked brisket ravioli, pork belly, lechón, puffy tacos, and wings glazed with Sweet Baby Ray’s. More than a dozen pitmasters and chefs from across the South came to represent, and we poured everything from Prosecco Superiore to Grand Cru Champagne to match.