(Bloomberg) - This Labor Day, chances are you will encounter some barbecue. You will have to decide what to drink with it. 

At my house, some family members will stick to swigging local craft brews; you can’t go wrong with good, cold beer in a tub of ice. Others, such as me, are committed wine buffs. Picking the right wines isn’t as easy as you might think. It’s all about the meat, the method, and the sauce. 

Here are the flavors you’ll encounter while barbecuing: smoke, meaty umami, a salty char, and sometimes sweetness and tang. They’ll vary by region—in Texas barbecue, beef reigns, either brisket or ribs, often served with a sweet, hot tomato-based sauce. The flavor is intensely smoky, the meat rich. Southern-style pig barbecue, the kind you find in the Carolinas, depends on vinegar-based sauces and lighter spice rubs.

Pairing a wine with such powerful profiles requires attention.

So for a serious wine-and-barbecue conversation, I turned to my friend Jordan Mackay, whose book with Austin pit master Aaron Franklin, Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto, hit the bestseller list this year. Sadly, it doesn’t include wine pairings, but Mackay is a wine guy, and he assured me he had experimented with plenty of reds, whites, and rosés while writing. 

“What you want for all [types of barbecues],” says Mackay, “are wines that wipe the smoke and sauce off your tongue so you can take another bite. Dense, unctuous brisket needs the contrast and refreshment of acidity and bright fruitiness.” 

Like Mackay, I’m not a fan of the oft-suggested zinfandel-barbecue pairing. These big, heavy, high-alcohol reds seem ponderous with rich meat. I feel weighted down just thinking about the combo. Here are some tips on what to try instead:

• Pulled pork and succulent ribs go very well with lively pinot noir and with other high acid, lighter reds or rosés that can be chilled. The French call these thirst-quenchers vins de soif, or glou-glou (French for glug-glug). 
• Mackay is a huge believer in rosé (“the beer of the wine world”) with barbecue.  Me, too—and the fruitier the better, to hold its own with smoked meat. 
• I can’t get that enthused about white wine with barbecue. Though grilled shrimp or chicken with citrus-y rubs can be delicious with tart, floral-scented vinho verde, I’d rather drink bubbly or a chilled rosé. 
• Save big, bold, tannic, high-dollar reds, such as cabernet, for char-grilled steaks. The quick cooking doesn’t break down the meat’s fat the way hours in a barbecue pit do, but the wine’s tannin will do the trick. 
• Forget oaky wines. The meat is already smoky enough, and a spicy sauce will make the wine’s oak character stand out even more. 
• Keep your choices simple. Grilled foods and barbecue have so many intense flavors that wine nuances will be lost.