Two Red Wines, One Pasta Dinner

The birch tree in our backyard has turned bright yellow, and its leaves are dropping rapidly, creating a brilliant carpet. The weather is cooling and my taste is turning once again to red wine. I do love fall.

Just ahead of the change of seasons, we received two red wines as tasting samples from our Twitter friend Mark Aselstine (@wineclubguy). Yes, as you might guess from Mark’s Twitter handle he has established a wine club, along with brother-in-law Matt Krause. It’s cleverly called Uncorked Ventures. They offer more than a wine club. You can find the details on their website.

Two bottles of red wine call for a hearty, meaty dish to pair with them. Coincidently, I had recently marked just such a recipe in Food & Wine magazine and was just waiting for an occasion (and cooler weather) to prepare it. The recipe, simply titled Sunday Sauce, calls for slow-cooked beef short ribs. 4 hours of slow-cooking created a rich and flavorful sauce which I served over pasta. We enjoyed both wines with our meal, and even invited a wine-loving friend to join us. Here’s what we thought of the wines.

2011 Cinque Insieme Reserve Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon — medium ruby in the glass with generous aromas of dark fruit and black tea. Dark plum, ripe raspberry and black tea flavors combine with smooth, well-integrated tannins and juicy acidity. Lighter bodied. ABV 13.1%. Only 35 cases produced.

This is a light to medium-bodied Cabernet with complex flavors and juicy acidity. A delicious example of Cabernet Sauvignon from the cooler 2011 vintage. The word elegant comes to mind.

2009 Troll Bridge Password — ruby in the glass with obvious dark fruit aromas and just a hint of jalapeño. Flavors of dark plums and tobacco combine with subtle jalapeño flavors. Tannins are ample and chewy. This outgoing red wine has a medium body, is well-balanced and has a long finish. ABV 14.5%. 75 cases produced.

Password is a blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.5% Merlot, 7.5% Syrah, 2% Petit Verdot – all Napa Valley fruit. This wine would easily pair with grilled steak. It has plenty of flavor and texture and continues to evolve in the glass. Not overly alcoholic.

Both wines were delicious with our meaty pasta dinner (and held up nicely overnight as well). Thanks Mark for sending these two delicious wines for us to sample.  Two very flavorful wines, not overly extracted, not overly alcoholic, very well balanced. Nice choices both.

We ate, we sipped, we talked wine. Do I have to choose a favorite? Oh, I hope not.

Cheers!