Summer is almost in our rear view folks which means a lot of fun festive pairings in our future! Today we visit an old favorite of mine, salty licorice. I have paired licorice before on this blog and licorice was the inspiration for Uncorked Unwrapped after a long night nursing a bottle of Malbec with licorice. So here we are, back with the ole muse and I must say, I certainly hit the mark this time.
So lets crack open my first delicious find from my candy haul and dive into a delicious pair.
The Wine: Norton, 2011, the Winery at Bull Run
The Candy: Salty Black Licorice Coins
I don’t know if you could actually buy anything with these
The Dream:
I have paired Norton before but it didn’t go so well. But the rich and dynamic flavors demanded another pairing and I thought this licorice was just the ticket. It’s a nice balance of salty and licorice flavor. Both the Norton and the licorice are incredibly strong flavors that I imagined would mesh very well.
Just LOOK at the color of that wine, doesn’t it just make you swooooon?
The Reality:
A home run folks!
The Norton has an interesting and complicated bouquet. The wine truly smells like a vineyard with slight aromas of dirt and grapes, but not in a bad way. There’s also a hint of sharp mustard and maybe…ketchup? The texture is smooth without any bite, although the wine is tart. I love Nortons. Delicious!
The licorice is on the harder side and there’s a lot of chewing involved. You get a nice build up of licorice flavor in your mouth before sipping the Norton. They combine beautifully. The wine doesn’t sour and its richness fills the mouth and mingles nicely. Perhaps it is because licorice is truly such an earthy flavor. Just lovely!
What a nice way to kiss summer goodbye! We will start featuring seasonal candies soon as well as chipping away at that giant bag of candy I bought.
Uncorked, Unwrapped 