Tasty Recipes from Recipe Wizards

Try serving wine at a tailgate party or while watching the big game on your 42-inch flat-screen and your average football fan is likely to call you an effete snob. And then go back to guzzling wan, tasteless light beer.

How to get around this? Serve manly, muscular wines.

If you're a Saints fan, you might be cooking spicy Cajun barbecue shrimp laced with garlic and cayenne.

As for Colts fans, I Googled "Indiana" and "tailgate food" and came up with "Wazzu Indiana Tailgate Chili" with habanero and jalapeno chiles, cayenne, black pepper and Tabasco sauce. Whoo!

Here are half a dozen wines that can stand up to a 400-pound lineman.

2007 Mettler Family Vineyards 'Epicenter' Lodi Old-Vine Zinfandel: A perfect match for spicy food, this is huge, with 15.6 percent alcohol. It's big and warm and rich, with black raspberry and spicy black pepper flavors and big but ripe tannins. $25. (Highly recommended.)

2007 Fess Parker White Riesling, Santa Barbara County: A muscular white wine? Well, it's not really so muscular. But it has a hint of sweetness, which is a wonderful thing with spicy food. It has flavors of golden apples and nuts, with good crisp acids. If you roast a pig at your tailgate party, this is your quaff. And, yes, the winery is owned by the actor who used to portray Davy Crockett. Probably goes with b'ar meat. $12. (Highly recommended.)

2007 Albarino Brandal by Adegas D'Altamira, Rias Baixas, Spain: Yes, another white wine. The Galicians of northwest Spain drink this with octopus, so it'll certainly handle your grilled shrimp. It's crisp, has intense grapefruit flavors and a slightly bitter almond finish. $15. (Highly Recommended.)

2006 San Leonino Chianti Classico, DOCG: The Italians drink this with those three-pound Tuscan steaks they lace with rosemary and grill to perfection. It's full-bodied, with powerful black cherry flavors and muscular tannins. $20. (Recommended.)

2005 Mazzocco Petit Sirah, Aguilera, Dry Creek Valley: Petit sirahs are famous for their muscle. If you bagged a wild boar or even just a deer for your tailgate party, this is your wine. It tastes like black cherries and licorice, with powerful acids and tannins. $35. (Recommended).

2007 Kendall-Jackson Syrah, Calif.: Syrahs are a little like zinfandels - big, rich and almost sweet, great with spicy food. This one has black plum and cinnamon flavors and big but ripe tannins. $14. (Recommended.)

Tags: Albarino, Bitter Almond, Cherry Flavors, Chianti Classico, Family Vineyards, Fess Parker, Galicians, Golden Apples, Grilled Shrimp, Mazzocco, Northwest Spain, Petit Sirah, Pound Lineman, Quaff, Rias Baixas, Saints Fan, Tabasco Sauce, Tailgate Food, Tailgate Party, Vine Zinfandel