The Ultimate Cigar Wine

[El Presidente]

When I was in Santiago Chile in September I spent a great time with friend Federico Heiremans (Taino on FOH), who besides being an avid cigar lover is also a fantastic wine maker who customises wine for private buyers.

During the course of a day together, wandering the winery, tapping and tasting different barrels, cigars, dinner etal...the converation turned to developing the ultimate cigar wine.

I committed to exploring the project and discussing it with FOH members once our move of locations had settled down. I have now reached that stage

Now, there are plenty of members who state that cigars and wine do not go together. I (and plenty of others disagree. In my opinion you need the right wine (low in tannin, good weight, fruit) but there are others who disagree.

I am going to break down the process for this exercise.

1. (this thread) 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.

2. From there we will move to making a wine blend on paper (in this forum) with the help of Federico (Taino).

3. From there we will produce some test bottles and tinker again.

*** The final tasting for those interested may be done over a few days in Santiago. Fly on down for a great few days

In the end when we are happy we will launch a special reserve batch to members with a case buy delivered to your door

This will be a hands on approach facilitated between Federico, Ken, myself, Guy, Trevor, Colt and all members to achieve something unique in perhaps "the first wine/s in the world tailored to cigars"

We have the opportunity to do it and it should be a great exercise.

Thanks to Federico for the opportunity and you should check out his website at http://www.enolo-go.com/

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

[Plato]

I am very excited to see how this thread developes.

Great idea Rob!

Cheers!

[Schumi5]

Very interesting concept, will be great to see the different opinions. I am on the side of the right wines do go very well with cigars. Some of the varietals I have found work well are Pinot Noir, Sangiovese and Shiraz/Syrah. Big Cab Savs not so much.

[bacalao]

Haven't had any luck with wine and cigars. You guys seem to have mastered it in your reviews. Now beef and wine. I'll take a Malbec or Cab from Chile or Argentina any day. Or just about any grape grown in the Mendoza region. Look forward to tasting the final product. Love the idea and curious to see if you guys can convert me to a wine and cigar man. Jose

[Orion21]

Late harvest red wines pair exceptionally well. I am not a huge fan of ports paired with cigars because I do not enjoy spirits with my cigars.

If you are asking for a traditional red wine I love a good Cabernet Franc with my cigars. Cabernet Franc is very fruit forward and not big enough to overshadow the cigar. Many wine lovers don't drink a lot of Cabernet Franc, much like Merlot, because it has been maligned over the past 15 or so years. A good Cabernet Franc like the one here will compliment most Cuban cigars very well.

Cheers and good drinking/smoking!

[messa]

I find that Groth vineyards in Napa make an Oaky full bodied Cab that tends to compliment the earthy flavors of most of my cigars.

[Lotusguy]

Great idea! I've always been a little suspicious of pairing cigars with wine so I never consciously did that - looking forward to the results! My experience extends more towards pairing Port (mostly 10 or 20 year Tawny but more recently also White Port) with cigars and really enjoyed it for the most part.

Keep up the good work !

[Rushman]

Great project. I have had a lot of good luck pairing wine and cigars. I have had tremendous luck with a few malbecs and some cabs. My palate for wine is far better suited to pairing with meals so I will defer to others on blending ideas but would definitely be interested in a tasting trip to Chile.

[Colt45]

I'm one who feels red wine and cigars do not go together - I've mentioned a few times that I feel cigar smoke brings out the tannin and

kills the fruit, making for a gritty sensation. And while I have not tried every varietal and every style, this has happened pretty much

every time I have tried it.

So for me, it would have to be a crisp white, which I have had good luck with when pairing with cigars. A good acidic back bone, but not so

acidic that it is very tart. Good acidic structure, but with some body mid palate. There are a number of varietals that can work - I think it's

more an issue of production style. I have found that good white matches are wines that keep their characters when paired with cigars - both

the wine and the cigar maintaining their identities.

I've not tried dry rosé (would not care too much for sweet), but I also think sparklers work well with cigars. No matter, for me I can't imagine

a wine I would not want to drink on it's own - that is, I'm not sure I'd be keen on a wine produced in a way to match well with cigars but which

could not stand on it's own merits, so to speak.

Really look forward to everyone's thoughts and how it all fleshes out.

[mkz]

  On 10/10/2011 at 9:42 PM, El Presidente said:

Now, there are plenty of members who state that cigars and wine do not go together.

Im one of those.

Still havent had any pleasant experiences with pairing these otherwise so delicious vices.

However Im looking forward to the outcome of this so I can be convinced otherwise.

[tsolomon]

I agree with Colt, the only good wine pairing was with a crisp white. I do like Port with my cigars, so it sounds like an interesting adventure. We drink a lot of wine and I can start comparing some different wines with my cigars after dinner to see if anything works.

[maverickdrinker]

for me, a mature bordeaux (lynch bages, baron pichon, leoville les cases) or a nice napa cab (dominus, caymus, shafer one point five) is an awesome experience.

I also like the occasion port with cigars however, I prefer a muscular cab to go with a cigar.

Last christmas, I popped the 1999 Dominus with some friends. What a heavenly experience.

[BENN]

For me a nice vintage port pre 80-s!

/ Ben Bockbrännarbolmers

[El Presidente]

Picture of Federico "Taino" doing what he does best.

[riazp]

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

[laficion]

For me, there are two fine wines that go very well with cigars and they are,

Maury wines from northern Roussillon. they are made from the Grenache varieties ( Noir,

Blanc & Gris). With age they loose their tannic but stay intensely fruity. They become

quite thick with a deep color.

Another even better, is Banyuls Grand Cru, also from Roussillon.

Here the varieties are Tourbat,Maccabeu,Grenache,with a 2nd variety that can not be more

then 10% which are Carignan, Cinsaut and Syrah .

I'm also one that thinks that not every wine goes with cigars, far from it, but, these wines

are both fantastic with a Habano.

[Chaki]

Sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks Prez!

For me, champagne is my favorite wine drink with a cigar.

I find that chilled champagne brings freshness to the palate and the bubbles stimulate the taste buds.

[PuffDaddie]

I love a good Bordeaux,Chateau Langoa Barton from the St Julien area in France,goes great with any cuban cigar.

[LLC]

I do enjoy wine with cuban cigars but I more often pair with an Americano, scotch or Cognac. I would say that an aged Bordeaux is probably my first choice for wine but I've also enjoyed cigars with Penfolds St Henri shiraz.

[Taino]

We are working on several prototypes for this project, but we are overall very excited.

What I'm thinking as a framework is fruity, low tannic content, relatively high alcohol content and I`m not so sure on the acidity level yet... but that's my idea, our winemakers may differ.

We are working with chilean and argentinean wines.

The devoted team who will come down here will have the final word.

[brazoseagle]

With ciigars it's hard to go wrong with a great, deep, thick, chewy red!!!! A nice Cabernet, Bordeaux, merlot or even a Pinot Noir. But the all time best pairing is a Port Wine, especially if you can find a high quality port with a chocolate essence! Rob, be looking in the mail, I'll send you something real special!

[khomeinist]

This needs to be a white wine. Whether sweet or crisp depends on the cigar. I vote for an ice wine. Trust me.

[AlohaStyle]

Great idea, I will be paying close attention to see how this plays out! As much as I love a good full-bodied red wine, I'm one of the people who don't like wine with cigars. However, I've only tried it a couple times and can't even remember what type of wine it was and I would be happy to give it another try.

[NJP]

Dalrymple in Tasmania do an estate Pinot Noir. It's a cold climate, early ripening Pinot. It's as fruity as a home made jam with great hints of spice. Clean and fresh palate. Just great with Cc. They do a Sauvignon Blanc of the same formula that can be perfect when the days warm up.

I don't always drink Reds with cigars but I will always have a cigar when I drink from Dalrymple.

Cheers Nic.

[anacostiakat]

I like red wines and cigars. I do drink some whites but my preference is red.

Now I agree with Rob that low tannins are a must for me to enjoy with a cigar. Spanish Crianza's that are smooth as well as Rhone reds fullfill this for me nicely. As well as Oz blends and shiraz. The wine must not overpower the cigar.