Wine for Halloween Chocolate! Drink Away the Indian Summer With Romantic Graciano!
by Jim van Bergen – Uncorked
Summer didn’t linger, it stayed out late and curfew be damned. Night after night it returned to rub our noses in the heat and humidity for more than a month past the Fall Equinox in the way that summer lovers can’t bear to leave each other’s side.
Más de Berceo Graciano 2015, Navarra, Spain. ABV 13.5%; SRP $9/bottle.
Color is medium purple with garnet center and a pale edge. The nose is rich with plum and boysenberry, clove and spice box with underlying heat; providing an exciting, aromatic adventure with reduced acids and round, easy-going tannins. On the palate, the blend is gentler than one expects. This graciano demonstrates a softer, mature red and black fruit blend with loam and clay, showing strong influence from the oaken cask it matured in.
A gentle yet full body with a tart and lingering stare, this is a wine that begs to be fed and enjoyed with food. Salty or sweet, your palate will reward you: fresh or dried fruit, cheese, fresh briny seafood, cured or roasted meats, all are choice compliments. Tapas? Of course! It also worked easily with a classic salad and Margherita pizza. My favorite pairing? Fig & olive crisps from Trader Joe’s with a chunk of triple-cream cambozola blue cheese on top. But the one that might make you drop your costume in the foyer and dig into your lover’s trick-or-treats is the pairing of graciano and chocolate! Your tasty candy might be milk or dark, sea salted or caramel-laced. The graciano blend is a stunning complement for chocolate and candy that will have you pouring glass after glass for yourself and your loved one from the front hall candy bowl until you’re entrenched in the bedroom. At $9 a bottle, who’s to know or care how many bottles you enjoyed over Halloween? I won’t tell.