Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday / winter break. Whether your opening presents or cursing capitalism, I wish you the merriest of days. If you want to be EXTRA merry, you can try out the pairing below. I’m writing this on December 22d, but it should post ont the 25th. I am pretty proud of myself for being so organized. Although I mostly have this done because we delayed traveling by a day…
This turned out to be very tasty and an excellent choice. I hope you’ll try it. You may not being able to buy wine today but there’s always Boxing Day!
The Candy: Candy Cane Hershey’s Kisses & Mint Hershey’s Kisses
A Very Mmminty Christmas
The Wine: Agua de Piedra, Malbec 2011
Malbec, It has been Too Long
The Dream:
As you may recall, we have tusseled with mint candy in the past. The pervious success worked with a port, since it is so heavy and fruity. The rich heavy flavor washes away the mint. Otherwise, the mint will dominate the wine’s flavor. It is just yucky.
Merry Merry
But I didn’t want to repeat my success(especially because I can’t afford Port at the moment), so I chose the other heavy wine I adore: Malbec. My favorite type of Malbec is rich and juicy. I liken it to eating a delicious chocolate cake. Occasionally you get a weaker one and that would not work with a mint pairing. I tried my luck on this bottle. I had tried the other Malbec’s in the store (surprise surprise), so I moved on to something new. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
The Reality:
The wine is perfect-it is smooth and rich with hints of blackberry. There is a slight sweetness that fills the mouth. It dominates the senses, which is a good sign for our pairing. It reminds me very much of the El Presidente that succeeded in the last mint pairing.
The candy cane Hershey’s Kiss is not especially strong. It’s minty, but mostly sweet. With a sip of wine, the peppermint remains but wine holds its ground. I credit this to the white chocolate which balances the intensity of the peppermint. Even the bits of candy cane sprinkled in the kiss feel faint when surrounded by this white gold.
The mint hershey kiss is more of a challenge since its entire center is bright green with mint. The Malbec and the mint mix nicely, with the wine maintaining its flavor. The mint remains strong, but since the wine is so heavy and rich it isn’t dominated. They flavors melt into each other.
The Take Away: Both Port and a rich Malbec pair well with mint! See, we are learning!
~Happy Holidays~
Uncorked, Unwrapped 