Does this conversation sound familiar to you?
“What do you want to do for dinner?”
“I don’t know. What do you want?”
“I don’t know.”
That was Kara and me the other night. For a good ten minutes, it seemed, we lazily volleyed back and forth. Each of us hungry, and yet very content to just lay there on the couch, zoning out with the TV on in the background…
And then it hit me…
“That’s it!” I proclaimed as I jumped out of my seat, “We need to make something happen!”
I dragged Kara to the kitchen, where I pulled out two glasses and a bottle of wine.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“We need inspiration. Let’s just hang out in the kitchen and drink this wine. I guarantee that eventually we’ll make something to eat.”
And so we did.
Here’s the wine…
Kara and I picked this up at the Rodney Strong winery in Healdsburg last summer, while celebrating our one year wedding anniversary. It was 25 bucks.
Color: Dark reddish purple.
Nose: Raspberry, blackberry, and plum fruits are all present on the nose. There are subtle hints of tobacco leaf as well.
Taste: Nothing subtle on the palate. This wine is ALL TOBACCO! I mean… Big time! There a good plum fruit to this, and some nice lavender notes, but what you will remember is the big leathery tobacco structure. The website says to enjoy this over the next 3 – 6 years, but I think the Rodney will still be going Strong (See what I did there?) for the next 10. The tannins were a tad bit astringent on the finish, but one would expect that to fade over time.
Score: A fantastic 92 point effort from Rodney Strong. I highly recommend the Alexander Valley, girl.
I got so mesmerized by the wine, that I didn’t even notice that Kara was fixing up something proper in the kitchen. The next thing I knew, she slid this over to me…
Rosemary, spinach, and walnut pesto pasta with crusty bread. Mmmmmmmm…
There was a very pleasant piney mintiness to the pesto. When combined with the tobacco flavors of the wine, there were some really neat chocolate notes that came out of the Cabernet.
What a great dinner.
Sure, Kara made the meal, but I like to think that my drinking wine had something to do with it.
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Tags: Dinner, Food, Jeff, kara, Rodney Strong 2008 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, rodney strong winery, Rosemary Spinach and Walnut Pasta, Stay Rad
Stay Rad 
June 14, 2012 at 5:51 pm |
Hi, this is Rodney Strong Vineyards. Thank you for your lovely blog post on our Cabernet. The pasta you paired with with our wine looks delicious. Today, we shared your blog post on our Facebook page and our fans would love to have the recipe! Do you happen to have a recipe? If so, please post the recipe to our Facebook page or reach out to us by email at social@rodneystrong.com. We look forward to hearing from you! Cheers!
June 15, 2012 at 12:08 am |
Thanks, Rodney Strong. I’ll get Kara to write out the recipe for me.
June 16, 2012 at 9:09 am |
[…] other day, the fine folks at Rodney Strong Vineyards came across my post in which I paired their 2008 Alexander Valley Cabernet with Kara’s Rosemary, Spinach, … […]