Is it Possible to Pair Wine and Cigars?
March 30, 2012
Pairing wine with cigars is really not much different than pairing wine with food. I’m sure this is a subject that I could get in MUCH greater depth on in the future, but I may need to look for a little assistance from a true cigar connoisseur to examine their take on this pairing situation. I’m obviously coming at this from a wine perspective, and for now I have it categorized under the Facts section of this website i.e. short bite-size pieces of info.
The way that I look at it is this: I have personally found it extremely difficult to appreciate all the subtle nuances of, let’s say, an Austrian Gruner Veltliner if I have a mouthful of cigar smoke. The most successful cigar pairings that I’ve ever experienced are with Fortified wines (Ports, Sherries etc.), and full bodied red wines (Cab, Zin, Shiraz etc.). The reason these pairings were so successful was that they maintained the integrity of the wine. However, a cigar connoisseur would maybe disagree and say that the wine overpowered and therefore masked the flavor of the cigar. Once again, we are greeted with the old “everyone has a different palate” rhetoric, but with me preferring wine over cigars, I’m always going to favor a wine that over-powers a cigar rather than vice-versa.
I don’t want to rule out whites altogether. To me it seems that it would be beneficial to have a crisp, light and refreshing liquid in-between puffs on a cigar. Will it contribute to the overall “X Factor” of the wine pairing? No, I don’t think so, but it will certainly help to refresh your palate in-between drags.
As I said, this topic really could do with a little deeper examination, but this is where I’m at for now.
Posted in Facts | Tagged cigar wine pairing, Pairing wine with cigar | 2 Comments //Jacksonville Backyard BBQ Championships
March 29, 2012
The Jacksonville Backyard BBQ Championships are a fundraiser for the Glyn Cook Memorial Scholarship for Daniel kids.The contest has helped raise funds to award over $21,000 in scholarships since 2009 to formerly homeless kids who wish to pursue a college degree.
The 2012 Jacksonville Backyard BBQ Championships are Saturday, May 5 at the Pepsi Plaza at EverBank Field.
Here are some key dates:
- Registration for returning teams opens March 26
- Registration for teams expressing prior interest: April 9
(to be placed on the priority list, email info@jaxbbqchampionships.com) - Public team registration opens: April 16
Tickets go on sale online beginning in April for $16 each. Group tickets (10 or more) can be purchased from a contest committee member at a discount. For information on group tickets, email info@jaxbbqchampionships.com. Tickets at the door are available for $20 each. Kids 7 and under are free.
To learn more, email your group or company information to info@jaxbbqchampionships.com and learn how to use the Jacksonville Backyard BBQ Championships as a great team building opportunity for your club, group, business or neighborhood!
Posted in Events | Tagged Backyard BBQ, Jacksonville Backyard BBQ Championships | Leave a comment //Korean Short Ribs Paired with Eroica by Chateau St. Michelle
March 29, 2012
My original plans were for a red wine with this dish, but I must have been out of my tiny little English mind when I thought that pairing up. The only way is white for this dish, so don’t even THINK about getting creative and going the red-route. It won’t work, mainly for the reason of the complexity of flavors in the short rib marinade.
When was the last time you ate a pear?
I just read that back and it sounds ridiculous. I actually don’t believe a raw pear has graced my lips in quite a few years. I’ve actually created wine dinner menus where caramelized pear has been the main ingredient of a salad, but so far as eating it raw, it’s been quite a while.
The one thing I will say about documenting these recipes is that it’s really pointed out some major flaws in my eating habits. Not that I’ve been eating poorly. Far from it. More that I really need to expand my horizons. However, there’s no excuse for not eating a raw pear in a few years!!! A decent proportion of my wine reviews mention pear as one of the flavor components, so it would probably behoove me to taste it in its raw, unadulterated form!
Posted in Pairings | Leave a comment //Top 30 Wine Brands of 2011.
March 29, 2012This list always depresses me slightly. For the most part it reads like a who’s-who of generic tasting juice (obviously), but on the other-hand if you look at a similar list of the top 30 restaurants in the country, you’re going to be greeted with the same level of mediocrity. Right?
To expect individualism on a list of this sort is not to be expected, since all of these wines are over 100,000 cases in production.
Now, on the other-hand; if these brands were charging $15 a bottle, that would REALLY give me a reason to be depressed. But they’re not. Out of the top 30 wines on the list, 15 of them retail for under $8. That’s INSANE! The fact that wineries can even manage to produce a wine for that kind of a margin blows my mind, when you consider not only production, but the huge marketing $’s these wineries throw at these brands. Generic as they might be, I can only imagine the bar on this list has been considerably raised, when compared to as little as 10 years ago!
Here’s the breakdown of the 2011 list:
– Cupcake remains at #1 (same as last year)
– Barefoot is up to #2 from #3
– Apothic (Gallo) is new on the list at #3
– Californian wines represents 25 of the top 30 brands.
– Gallo owns 7 of the top 30 brands.
– 15 of the top 30 retail for $8+.
– 15 of the top 30 retail for under $8.
– The average price of wines in the top 30 was slightly down from 2010.
– Apothic, 14 Hands, Fish Eye, and The Naked Grape are all newcomers to the 2011 list.
30 of the Most Creative / Unique / Ridiculous Wine Glasses.
March 28, 2012Just some of the most creative and unique (but most of the time just plain ridiculous) wine glasses that I could find on the interweb. I do have to say that I think my favorite (and actually the easiest to replicate yourself) is the red cup glass.
A Guide to Wine Faults – Oxidation.
March 28, 2012
Oxidation
Aeration opens a wine, but too much will result in oxidation and therefore spoilage. Similarly, if the wine has a cork that leeks in too much air, or if a wine goes through multiple temperature changes in the bottle over a long period, oxidation may also occur.
I find oxidation to be one of the the most common wine flaws you’ll encounter, and is the main reason that I generally don’t drink wine by the glass in restaurants, unless I know they are doing enough volume, and even have a solid wine preservation system in place. I hate having to send wine back based solely on it being open a little longer than it should, therefore in smaller restaurants you’ll most likely find me enjoying a decent micro-brew beer.
Posted in Facts | Tagged A Guide to Wine Faults, Oxidation, Oxidization, Oxidized | Leave a comment //← Older posts Newer posts →
