wine wednesday | september 2016

I love a good steak with an amazing bottle of wine.

I also love an amazing bottle of wine with a shitty, greasy delivery pizza.

It seems that I just love amazing wine.

i might have a little wine problem.

2013 carignane | castoro cellars, whale rock vineyard | paso robles, ca

Castoro Cellars has long been one of our favorite vineyards in Central Coast California. They offer a wide choice of varietals and make consistently good wine. Wine club members since 2012, we were drinking it (and sharing it) so frequently that we bumped up our membership to increase our shipments to four times a year. However, that doesn't include the specialty orders we snatch up when they're on sale.

While we probably wasted this bottle on crappy delivery pizza (the bottle retails for twice as much as we paid for dinner) but it was delicious. Jammy and sweeter than I usually prefer, it went well with the saltiness of the pizza. I don't know that I would have paired this with anything too simple. It would have gone really well with a steak, heavy pasta dish, or another hearty flavor. This varietal is light, which matches it well with a richer food. Honestly, I think I'll save the next bottle for a cheese tray.

Happy un-corking on this Wine Wednesday! Be sure to leave your favorite varietal in the comments.