Casa Magna Dominican Gran Toro and Cigar Box Reserve Malbec 2012: Pairing

The Wine

Cigar Box Reserve Malbec 2012

Cigarboxwine.com

$16.99 saw it at some grocery store and had to buy it

See the March Matching set-up post

Appearance: black-purple body with deep purple highlights; slow dripping leggs

Aroma: black fruit, reminding me of black currant and black plum; touch of floral and mineral; on the bottle it says violet, I got a bottle of violet vinegar out of the pantry and yep violet it is;

Flavors: fresh black berry, plum, black currant; light tart cranberry in the mix; a 70% dark chocolate like note swirls around the berries; mild cedar spice; moderate mineral earthiness;

Mouthfeel: dry; tannins are moderate and under control; nice black fruit bitterness on the back and aftertaste; a pleasing thickness to the body on the first glass – starts to get a little jammy on the second glass; I’ll give it a 6 on my strength scale – just inside the medium-full range;

To the Point: a pleasing Malbec;

The Cigar

Casa Magna Dominican Gran Toro

Wrapper: Corojo

Fillers: Cuban-seed Dominican

Size: 6 x 60

Profile: medium-full body; dark roasted coffee; dark chocolate like bitterness; toasted caramel; fire pit smoky note; green peppercorn; earthy and peppery aftertaste

Click here to read the full cigar review

The Pairing

The wine seems to control the cigar – after a sip of the wine and then a puff of the cigar the cigar seems to lose all the flavor notes I mentioned above and the cigar only comes across with some deep toasted grains - a slightly boring exchange in my opinion.
Now, when I puff the cigar and then take a sip of the wine I get the flavors of the cigar of course and then they mix with the flavors of the wine for a decent experience because nothing flavor wise stands out.  The wine does come across a little fuller in body during this experience. 

I think both the cigar and the wine are in the medium-full range which should help to make a good match but, I think the robust flavors of the cigar are a little too much for this wine to maximize my experience. It was a decent pairing but, nothing special.

I gave this pairing 3-1 odds to win this March Matching but, it will be bring up the rear next to the Double Bastard Ale.