CEV Reserve Cabernet Franc 2007 and Padilla Signature 1932 Cigar: Review

The Wine

CEV Reserve Cabernet Franc 2007

Niagara Peninsula

13% abv

$20.75 Canadian

Colio Estate Wines

Harrow, Ontario, Canada

Coliowines.com

My Strength Rating: 4.5/5

If you live in the Detroit Metro area this makes a nice day trip to visit the winery.  You can get there in less than an hour.  I will be at the winery next weekend for their Ice Wine Festival.  I’ll be posting the pictures then.

This wine has a deep ruby color with some ruby highlights.  The nose is dark berries and spice.

The flavors are pleasing.  Tart cherries, a blackberry bite, touch of oak and vanilla, a nice sweet cedar and spice to make things interesting, a mushroom earthiness, and I am going to have to say a plum note on the edges. 

The mouthfeel seems a bit thin at times.  The plum and mushroom like qualities gives the wine some softness.  The tart cherry and blackberry bite gives some structure. 

The Cigar

Padilla Signature 1932

Edicion Limitada 2009

Wrapper: Oscuro

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nic.

Size: 7.2 x 59

My Strength Rating: 7.5/8

Off the Light: Nice spice and earthy qualities.

After the first few puffs the main profile seems to be a rich soil earthy note.  The spice is still present along with a bitter dark chocolate (85% dark) note starting to develop.  The smoking experience presents a good roasty and toasty tobacco style. 

There also seems to be a good green peppercorn like quality mingled in with that spice profile. 

The burn has been perfect from the get go.  Usually, you’ll need to do some correcting of the burn on these big figurados. 

The mouthfeel is robust and zesty with a lingering earthy quality.  This seems to be a good medium-full bodied smoke to this point.

Mid-point: The spice profile is very pleasing.  There is a toasty herbal spice at the moment (toasted mint?).  The green peppercorn is still in the mix.  The earthy notes are taking a backseat to the spice right now. 

Down the Stretch:  the toasted herbal note is gone.  The spice and earthy mix is playing well.  The toasted tobacco note is a little more of a burnt style at this point.  The texture is a bit fuller as the cigar approaches the end. 

The Pairing

Not a bad pairing.  The cigar is a bit strong for this wine.  The robust style of the cigar starts to cover up some of the nice flavors of the wine.  When I am taking a few puffs of the cigar and then taking a drink of the wine the tart cherry and blackberry is not as noticeable.  But, the wine does seem to control the robust nature of this cigar. 

The reason this is happening is because of the ‘strength rating’ issue.  I rated the wine as a 4.5 and I rated the cigar a 7.5, this is more than the two points that I recommend in movement. 

For the wine I would recommend a mild to medium bodied cigar and for the cigar I would recommend a fuller bodied wine.