The Wine
Sirius Red
Grape Dessert Wine
Black Star Farms
Old Mission Peninsula
Traverse City, Michigan, USA
18% abv
375 ml bottle
$28.50
Appearance: deep dark burgundy with ruby highlights
Aroma: dusty baker’s chocolate powder, mixed nut shells, light earthy tone, slight alcohol scent
Flavors and Mouthfeel: almost syrupy, little dusty and slightly grainy feel to the mocha, spice from the alcohol so, it has a light peppery tone, slight medicinal feel also coming from the alcohol, black cherry, hint of anise and/or horehound, I think I like the idea of horehound here because it has a spicy style that is bittersweet and this wine has that style. Now, it all comes together, black cherry, horehound, alcohol with a slight medicinal feel – this sounds like the perfect cough drop lozenges.
My Strength Rating: 5.5 – a good medium body dessert wine.
To the Point: May not be for everyone. The slight medicinal style may be at issue; while I like it … my wife did not.
The Cigar
Ave Marie Ark of the Covenant
Short Gordo
Wrapper: Habano
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Size: 4.5 x 60
5 pack for $36.00
I did a review on this cigar yesterday to prepare for the pairing today but, today the experience is a little different. Yesterday the first half of the cigar was on the milder side with a very pleasing complex earthy quality. Today, right off the light it has a more medium body style and the oak flavor is right there front and center where yesterday the oak did not appear till I was past the halfway point on the stick. I have not smoked enough of these Ave Maries to know if it was something from the cigar or was it my palate.
So, let me deal with what I have today.
And, this Short Gordo has a good medium oaky tone with a firm walnut like quality here in the first inch of the cigar. This is my third Ave Marie Ark of the Covenant cigar that I have had and the first one tasted like this one and the one I did the review on yesterday had a different smoking experience (but, I liked it). Today, the first half of this cigar is a 5 on my strength scale.
Pairing this cigar with the port style dessert wine from Black Star Farms should work well. The oaky, nutty, and dusty earth style of the cigar should match well with the black cherry, dusty mocha, and spices of this dessert wine.
The first few exchanges confirm that this is going to be a good pairing. Both of these have this dusty, earthy thing going on. The oak from the cigar matched well with the black cherry and horehound like qualities in the wine. The flavors from the cigar and I think it is the dusty earth style that blankets the alcohol spice and helps to manage that slight medicinal feel of the dessert wine.
The second half of this cigar starts to move to a 6 rating on my strength scale. The oak is a little firmer, the earthy tone deepens, and the walnut note is more like ‘walnut shell’ than the nut (slightly bitter).
The Pairing: I enjoy the cigar to wine exchange more than tasting the wine first then the cigar exchange. The cigar first seems to manage the flavors of the wine. The black cherry and spice flavor comes thru more so with this exchange. Likewise, the cigar is slightly bitter toward the end here and the wine in return helps to manage this.
Overall, this was a good pairing to me.
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