It’s Friday night and I’m feeling unmotivated. Usually, Friday night is the night that I get to eat out and not cook. But quarantine has put a stop to that. So, I’m starting to run out of dinner ideas. I decided that I was going to make it a fun challenge and cook from my pantry for as long as I could and not go to the grocery store. I took a look in my fridge and saw that I had thawed ground beef. I wanted to eat something different so I decided to make a cheeseburger crunch wrap. It is an American/Mexican mix that I normally wouldn’t make but might order when dining out. To make it feel more like dining out, I needed wine to go with it.
The Cashmere Black was what I chose for the night. It is a blend of Petite Sirah ( also known as Durif) and Alicante Bouschet, both being French grapes grown in California by the Cline Family.
History
Alicante has a significant history in the U.S. Because it has a thick skin, Alicante was the grape of choice to be shipped to home winemakers during Prohibition. It could survive transcontinental travel and produced a lot of juice. It can produce high alcohol wines and has a jammy quality to the wine that is made from it. These days it is grown mostly in Portugal and Spain, with some plantings in the U.S.
Petite Sirah also produces a deep colored, full-bodied wine. The wine it produces is high in antioxidants and tannins. It is also somewhat rare. It grows best in warm climates, so you will find it in areas of the Central Valley of California, such as Lodi, where great value wines are being made.
Flavor Profile
This is a big wine but you don’t really notice it when you start drinking it.The flavors of these two grapes are very similar and complement each other in a very balanced way. Both have dark fruit flavors of blueberry and blackberry, black plum, chocolate, mocha, coffee and tea. There is also the oak flavors of baking spices and vanilla, along with some toast from the barrels. The jamminess of the Alicante balances out the tannic structure of the Petite Sirah, making this wine’s structure smooth and silky in your mouth. It also disguises the high alcohol content, which is 14.5% alcohol by volume.
Food Pairing
This is a wine that needs to be paired with stronger flavors, which is why I paired it with the crunch wrap. It stands up to the cheddar cheese and dill pickles and tones down some of the sharpness that goes with these ingredients. The ground beef has a strong flavor, as well as the mustard that was spred inside and this wine stood up to all of it. It even did well with the broccoli.
This wine would also pair well with Mexican Molé dishes, as well as dishes that have strong herbal or spice flavors. If you are a fan of Zinfandel, you will like this wine. It is a perfect wine for the holiday season. It is warm and spicy and during the colder months, I like drinking wines with a little more substance to them. I encourage you to try this and let me know what you think.