It’s January. In Iowa.
The sun brings light for a mere nine hours each day.
We all trudge back and forth to our jobs in the dark, both
going-to and coming home. Our lowest
temperature here so far this month was -17F with -41F wind chills. This most
recent cold snap was SO cold the Weather Channel had to make up a name for
it. The “polar vortex”, was their apt
designation.
The relentless cold and dark had me craving dark red wines
with some serious muscle. It’s no
surprise then, I chose a Cabernet Sauvignon for my number one wine for the
month.
My choice, the Beringer Knights Valley 2011 is a Cabernet to
get excited about! Knights Valley
is a Viticulture Area in Sonoma County
tucked up near the lofty Mt. St. Helena. It is Sonoma’s
easternmost, furthest away from the Pacific influence, and therefore warmest
wine region. The very warm daytime
temperatures, together with cool nighttime temperatures are ideal for growing
grapes with fully ripened fruit, and a balance of acidity.
My wine journal notes on this wine go on and on, and are
peppered with exclamation points! The
aromas are intense, full of ripe, juicy blackberry, plum and currant. Savory dried herbs are present too, as well
as toasted oak, cigar box, graphite, and notes of brown sugar. WOW!
The palate is smooth and holds layers of ripe, dark berry
flavors, plum, dried herbs and leather.
The wine’s lengthy finish includes pleasant tannins and spices.
Complex, intense, well-balanced, yet this Cabernet is still
very youthful. Decanting is a good idea,
but the wine is very drinkable without so doing.
Since I’m all mopey about the dark winter, I decided to
throw some chocolate into the wine experience.
Chocolate makes everything better, right? Although there is much written
about the romantic joining of wine and chocolate, it is just not that
simple. A decadent milk chocolate
clashes terribly with a big, tannic red wine.
I chose the Zoet (loosely rhymes with hoot) 85% Extra Dark
Premium Belgian Chocolate bar.
It is full of dark cocoa flavor, just on the edge of bitter,
with only a hint of sweetness. The
bitter edge actually allowed the wine’s fruit to shine through while the
tannins in the wine blended nicely with the dark cocoa flavor.
Well okay. My dark Iowa
winter was improved a smidge by this fantastic Beringer Cabernet and the
splurge of rich, dark Belgian chocolate.
Maybe, just maybe, my winter doldrums have been lifted!
