Wine and Cigars - What a Pair

So, along with the large amounts of wine consumption, I do love a good cigar. Because my vices include both wines and cigars, how do I pair the two. Now don't get me wrong, I've tried not to allow the two to cross paths, but because I enjoy them both immensely, it was inevitable. So I lit up a La Gloria and began to think, what wines would pair best with this cigar? My first question was, am I leaning towards a red or white wine? Maybe it's me, but the thought of trying to pair a cigar with let's say, a Pinot Grigio did not seem too appealing. Although I do believe a buttery Chardonnay from napa may have done a decent job. However, I believe the job of matching a cigar with wine, fall to the dark side of the wine world, the reds. So let's run down the list, Pinot Noir - mostly too fruity and light, Cabernet Sauvignon - mostly too big, and Merlot - too inconsistent. On to the wines that captured the rare essence of this cigars complexities. In this case Syrah and Zinfandel were the best pairing for this cigar. To be more specific, a person looking to syrah should focus on the Rhone region of France and Santa Barbara in California. You may ask, why these regions for Syrah, well let me explain. In the Case of the Rhone Valley (The birth place of Syrah) and Santa Barbara, the soil allows its wines to have pure round fruit cloaked in peppery minerality which seems to cater to some of the vanilla/cocoa nuances that most cigars tend to exhibit.

As for the Zinfandel Grape, it displays bright rasberry, jammy red currant, and a tobacco component, YES I said tobacco. Some places, I believe produces the kind of Zinfandels with the ability to match up well with Cigars, are Sonoma Valley and Lodi. Sonoma tends to produce Zinfandels with an ideology standing firm on the foundation of structure, meaning that the flavors are concentrated, but the fruit doesn't overwhelm your palate. Sonoma County's Zins tend to pair well with medium bodied Cigars. Lodi is a whole different story in regard to most of the Zinfandels they make in that area of northern California. Lodi leans towards the fruit first aspect of wine making. When tasting a Zinfandel from Lodi, red fruit bombs (high in alcohol) seem to drop heavily on your palate, accompanied by hints of tobacco that linger long after the wine has gone down, look to pair with big robust cigars. Although, I mostly lean toward a premium Scotch or Brandy when consuming a Cigar, if you have followed me on previous posts, I do like to try new things. See if these pairing work for you, and if you have any ideas of wines out there that I need to try, please leave a comment.