WineLife365

Posts Tagged ‘Three Old Vines’

Cookies.  I have a confession to make:  Ummm… well, you see, I’ve been eating lots of them ever since they came out of the oven…like 10 at a time to be exact.  But who’s counting…right?  One look at these mouthwatering beauties and you’ll see why I’ve lost complete self-control, and understand why there are no measures to curb or ration my daily intake.

We’ve got snickerdoodle cookies, gingerbread cookies, pumpkin with cranberries and walnuts cookies, and cookies called “Cranberry Gems” that have craisins and white chocolate chips in it.  We also have “Peanut Butter Blossoms” – they’re the ones with the Hershey Kiss on top, and the world’s greatest chocolate-chip cookie known to mankind.  Rounding out the bunch is the ever so dangerous, melt in your mouth, can’t stop with one, “Raspberry Jam Thumbprint.”

Last night, as I was making myself a little (okay, it was more than a few…don’t judge!) plate of cookies for a late-night snack, I thought to myself, “I wonder what wine would go best with this cookie, or this cookie, or that cookie.”  I thought, what the heck, let’s do it!  So I grabbed six different wines to see if any would be a match made in confection heaven with these cookies.

Here’s a list of the wines that I pulled out:

• Domaine Du Margalleau Sparkling Vouvray NV (>$20) – This sparkler comes from France’s Loire Valley and is made with 100% Chenin Blanc grapes.  It’s like a dry brut, just with the delicious sweetness of Chenin floating around, with a slight flintiness to round out a very well balanced and exceptional wine.  Highly recommend.
• 2008 Rabbit Ridge Viognier from Paso Robles, CA.  (>$10) – Wow!  What a steal @ less than 10 dollars a bottle.  Not overpowering in the least.  Made with estate grown fruit, this California Viognier is bright, lush and extremely well-balanced for an $8 wine.
• 2010 Annabella Special Edition Chardonnay from Michael Pozzan Winery (>$15) – Total production on 100% Napa Valley Chard is only 8,900 cases.  It’s smokin’ hot with a balance of lemon, pineapple, fig and slight vanilla undertones.  Not at all an in-your-face vanilla/oak Chardonnay so commonly found in California:  maybe because it’s only 35% barrel fermented in 100% French oak.  Whatever it is, this is a delicious California Chardonnay and an outstanding value.
• 2009 Chad ‘Red Hills Lake County’ Cabernet Sauvignon (>$20) – I’ve tasted wines from Chad before that I thought were scorching values, but my first impression of this ’09 Cab had me thinking otherwise.  I found the cherry component in this Cali Cab to be way over the top which made it overly sweet; taking away from any other ingredients that might have been swimming around inside.  But hey, that doesn’t mean that it won’t pair nicely with my plate of cookies!
• 2008 Three Old Vines Zinfandel (>$20) – This is a steal at less than $20 a bottle.  Bursting with bright red berries and spices, with just a touch of earthiness – this red Zin goes down smooth and leaves you panting for more.
• 2006 Small Gully ‘The Formula’ Robert’s Shiraz (>$20) – This is one whopping, badass Aussie Shiraz, made from 40 year vines, that reveals dark black fruit and chocolate notes while not burning the rubber off the tires with its dizzying 15.9% alcohol content.   

I asked my wife if she’d care to assist in determining if any of these wines would pair well with her delicious homemade Christmas cookies.  She said, “The last thing my ass needs right now is another damn cookie, but…I will try the wine.”

“Fair enough,” I said.

As I tasted through this bounty of homemade cookies and wine, there was one wine that hit a grand slam with the cookie plate:  that wine was the Domaine Du Margalleau Sparkling Vouvray NV (>$20).  It danced and sang with all of them except the Peanut Butter Blossoms and the world’s greatest chocolate chip cookie of all time.  I would have thought going into this tasting that the red wines would’ve done particularly well – especially with the cookies having chocolate and/or peanut butter in them, but sadly it wasn’t a match made in heaven.  Only the Shiraz played nicely with the gingerbread cookies and the Cranberry Gems.  Oddly enough, the 2010 Annabella Special Edition Chardonnay was a good match for the chocolate chip cookies and the 2008 Rabbit Ridge Viognier was quite tasty with the Peanut Butter Blossoms.  Go figure.  The ’09 Chad Cab, unfortunately, didn’t pair well with anything…maybe it was because I wasn’t diggin’ on it in the first place.

In the end, I must declare the Domaine Du Margalleau Sparkling Vouvray NV the ultimate winner in the 1^st Annual(?) WineLIfe365 Cookies and Wine Event.  It sure was a lot of fun trying all of them and now I know which wine to put out for Santa on Christmas Eve!