The Ultimate Cigar Wine

[dicko]

I'm with Colt, the double tannin doesn't do it for me re reds.

Strangely enough though I end up drinking red with cigars a fair bit. Barbera and zinfandel are good matches though IMO (thanks Steve - ozcuban for the tip-off on the zin)

A nice champagne does it for me if we are going the wine path.

[Puros Y Vino]

Great Idea!!

I've had Red wines with cigars from French to Italian to US based. I've found that reds in conjunction with cigars tend to dry out my taste buds. A red that is bold with it's fruit performs best. Port is still the ideal pairing for me. Perhaps it's sweetness sets it apart? What I have found to be a solid pairing is Champagne and cigars. Whether or not your cigar is mild , medium or strong a good Champagne seems to clean the palate, wake up the taste buds and prepare you for your next draw. My best results have been with Pol Roger. My most economical yet enjoyable pairings have been with Spanish Cava such as Cordoniu and Freixent. I look forward to seeing how this progresses!

[maverickdrinker]

crap! I forgot about Champagne. Rose champers is the bomba with cigars. Billecart Salmon rose, Charles Heidricks, Feualatte, Bollinger Rose to name a few. All good with cigars!!!!

When I was on vacation last year in Arizona, I bought a bunch of grower champers and rose champers to drink throughout the week. Pure heaven.

[Plato]

Greetings Friends,

I am suprised to see white wines and sweet wines being left out

Sweet Wines (in no particular order)

1) Sauternes - I am a huge lover of Sauternes. It seems as if they have fallen out of fashion, although I guess you could make the arguement that almost all the sweet wines have. The sweetness & acidity go great with cigars IMHO. It is a great palate cleanser between puffs

2) Tokaji Aszu - Love this. But I've never had it with cigars. Anyone have any experience pairing it with cigars?

3) Tawny Port. (Yalumba Antique Tawny Port from Australia) Hands down my favorite style of port. The flavors are all cream, caramel, vanilla, etc. Delicious. Yalumba is a great Tawny, although the price has been creeping up in recent years. If you try one thing on this list, try some tawny port. You won't ever go back to other styles of port. GREAT. GREAT. GREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.

Sparkling wine: Because it goes great with cigars. Me and the boys were talking about sparkling wine last week on the shout box. We kinda agreed that Champagne is great, but for the most part it is over priced. Keep in mind that the only thing that can have the word "Champagne" on the label is sparkling wine from the Champagne Region of France. For the thrifty drinker look to SPAIN. Spain produces a sparkling wine called "Cava" that is most excellent. The best part is that Cava can be VERY CHEAP. Cristalino, Segura Viudas, and Freixenet are all big name Cava produces that cost under $9 bux a bottle. IMHO a $5-7 dollar bottle of Cava is quite enjoyable a delicious, whereas a $5-7 bottle of Champagne tastes like crap! Oh, and stay away from COOKS if you live in the US. Once your hooked on Cava, you will start drinking it alot more. Because suddenly when a good sparkling wine only costs you $5-7 dollars a bottle you can afford to drink it anytime and anywhere...not just when your celebrating something.

(On a side note: I love Champagne, I really do. I do think that the finest Champagne's are better than the finest Cavas. However, I am not rich, so I cannot afford to have $30+ dollars of entry level champagne. Also, if you MUST have Champagne you should check out some of what they call "Grower Champagne". Basically G.C. is just Champagne produced by families, or small companies. Not the big corporations that control the vast majority of Champagne in the Champagne region.

Sorry If I have spelling or punctuation errors. I am writing this quickly during lunch.

Cheers friends!

[El Presidente]

I should point out that there is nothing precluding us making a white and a red nor (if successful) changing the wines yearly.

There will be no Pisco Sour FOH release.....I could never get the hang of that stuff

[Wil]

I quite like tannic reds, so don't often enjoy red with cigars. Chardonnay or sparkling for mine.

[CanuckSARTech]

....So lets start the process rolling:

Step 1. Discuss your thoughts on cigars and wine. If you have a favourite wine style with cigars: favourite brand, blend, let us know and why it works for you.

Let's have fun

Okay then.......

*cracking knuckles*

To start this off, I'm not a huge wine nut. Do I drink and have a fair bit of wine? Absolutely. My wife and I have about 150 bottles in a mini-wine-cellar rack setup in our basement storage area. Nice and cool - same storage zone as my long-term cigar coolerdors. Now, 150-ish bottles definitely isn't a lot for some, but it's a fair bit with not really being into wine.

Don't ask me about some of the varietals and specifics and stuff. I have no idea on a lot of that stuff. I'm clueless compared to some cigar knowledge. All I really have is from doing some local wine tours over the years, and from taking some wine crash-courses for bartending stuff years back.

But, I do have, on average, about a bottle a week or so, and I do know what I like, and what pairs nicely.

So, all that said....

I too don't really turn to wine to pair with a cigar. I'm not saying there's anything wrong or right with that, but it's not really something I do. However, when I do, I've found some really great combos, if it's the right cigar also.

For reds, I'm a big fan of - syrah, amarone, and pinot noir. Bold, fruity. I find with some stuff, and especialy for cigar pairing, you need to stay away from oaky wines. There's enough wood tones and such in your cigar. Having that in your wine does "dry out" your palate, as Frank mentioned earlier. And, for the love of gawd, no/low tanins! I'm one of those that like red wine, but get "tanin headaches". That's not something that you need exacerbated by having a cigar at the same time too.

So, if it's a red, something like that. Bold, no-/low-tanins, lots of fruitiness, no oakiness.

My preference would be a white, though. As others like Colt mentioned, a nice crisp sweet wine, maybe a sparkling. Now, I'm not a sweettooth really - that's my wife. And while I'll enjoy a nice red while she sips on a dessert wine, I still do like the sweeter, crisper white varieties for pairing with a cigar. I really like a late-harvest riesling, or a nice guwurtztraminer. I'm a pickler for Pelee Island Winery offerings with this stuff too (a local Ontario winery, award-winning and world-class stuff!) But those two white varietals go great! Again, I'd call for a white with no oakiness to it, and not a dry variety (at LEAST a 1 on the sugar code, if not a solid 2).

But a white I'd think would be interesting would be a lightly sparkling late-harvest riesling or guwurtztraminer. Very cool.

And like Khome mentioned, man, a great icewine would be awesome!!! Icewines are a big thing here in Ontario. A great icewine - my favs are the vidal icewines, or the brandy icewine offerings. AWESOME with a nice and smooth cigar!

So, I gave three nice red varietals that I think would work nice, and two whites and then the icewine thoughts. I think this is an awesome idea, and well workable.

And, while I'm not an overly huge wine connoisseur, I'd gladly volunteer my palate to help with any tastings. To try to give an unbiased, non-KBG, review/feedback of anything that's rolled out for this.

I'd be game for a (free?) trip to S.A., being that I'd volunteer my palate for the goodness of the cause.

*....milking the winning taste-testing thing as much as I can....*

[mazolaman]

I'd agree with many on this.

While I enjoy a good heavy wine,I don't thinks they go with a cigar,ie merlot,cabernet,malbec.Better with dinner I think.

A thin fruity red...so some of the lighter Pinot noir,beaujolais,cabernet franc,zinfandel.

For me the key is a lighter red,eg,the old fashioned fruity Bordeaux,before they all became 14%...wine gravy.

Champers and Cava are excellent with a cigar.

Dry tangy fruit,perfect.

Port has never worked for me,but a Malaga does,a Pedro Zimanez familiar reserva (sold in 50cl bottle) is thick and raisiny,and somehow seems to complement the cigar...

Overall,if it were a red,a low alcohol thin fruity wine.

[Plato]

i've had some great luck with portugese wines with my cigars, especially from the duoro region where they make port. Also stragely enough, Pinot noir has been very enjoyable with light to medium cigars and cab-sauv with fuller cigars, really looking foward to how this develops, exellent project

Riaz,

I love wines from Portugal. Like Spanish wine, cheap and cheerful.

Cheers