Greetings, dear readers, and apologies for my long absence. I don’t know about you but staying at home has me drinking more wine than usual. Perhaps that’s upping my resistance to COVID-19? Probably not, but I like rationalizing my questionable behavior. At any rate, these are anxious times and that gives us all the more reason to focus on comfort wines. If you haven’t taken the My Wine Tribe Quiz recently, please do so to find your tribe and make sense of the recos below.

I polled My Wine Tribes’ Facebook followers on what “comfort wine” conjured up for them and their answers were pretty consistent–big red wine! They wanted wines to pair with comfort foods, glasses full of grapes that made them feel warm and fuzzy inside.

I’m looking at you yummy Cabs, Zins, Riojas and Syrahs.

Seeking available reds, no fuss allowed.

It was high time for a My Wine Tribe tasting, but how to do so while locked down? My friend Morgan, a food blogger with Strudel and Streusel, cracked the code. She suggested that I get the wine, portion it out in nifty traveling jars, and meet up (at a safe distance) to drop it off in exchange for comfort food that she whipped up to pair with my choices. Other friends popped over to pick up the goodies, and before we headed to the safety of our own homes, we savored being IRL together, even though we had to shout at each other from across the street.

My friends and I, IRL!

We all met up a few hours later on Zoom and the tasting commenced. Before we get into the results, here were my wine-buying parameters for the tasting: no fussy or expensive wines allowed and all wines had to be available at the local supermarket (because really, let’s limit the number of places we need hit to get our drink on).

So, with those rules in mind, here’s what I came up with:

Meet your new-at home-all-the-time-wine

The Hedges Family CMS is a blend of Cabernet, Merlot, and Syrah from Washington State. This is a perfectly drinkable wine and the one that the Accessible and Balanced tribes would most enjoy. Our tasters liked its scents of blackberries and plum jelly and tastes of dark fruit with a hint of smoke and vanilla on the finish. It’s a bit acidic to drink on its own but paired with food it’s a winner. If you are in the Developed or Complex tribes, though, it may be a tad too light on the palate for you.

The Penfolds Koonunga Hills was the big winner for both the Developed and Complex tribes. On the nose it’s a little musty (one taster noted that it smelled a lot like the Pirates of The Caribbean ride at Disneyland–humid with a little bit of earthiness) but beyond that the tribes really enjoyed the spicy fruitiness, hints of espresso, full mouthfeel and balanced tannins. Given that I am in the Developed Tribe and my man is in the Complex Tribe, this will be our new house wine.

Speaking of house wines, one couple at the tasting had been drinking the Josh Cabernet as theirs. I have been impressed with this wine too as I thought it drank above its price point. But in a blind tasting, no one loved it as much as they thought they did. Scents of green beans, figs, and acetone led to tastes of raspberry jam, cinnamon, dried cherries, and oddly, for one taster, sturgeon, as in the fish. It’s not a bad wine, it just wasn’t anyone’s favorite. (Guess who is changing their house wine?)

And the Zinfandel? It’s complex…

Finally, we had the Ravenswood Old Vine Zinfandel. Here’s the deal: This wine is bold, but it was a bit much for everyone with the exception of members of the Complex Tribe. It smells boozy and comes in hot with a slight burn at the back of the throat. But the folks it spoke to liked the tastes of toasted marshmallows, coffee grounds, and dark chocolate as well as its smooth finish. If you are in the Complex Tribe and looking for a wine to pair with BBQ, give this one a whirl.

So, when looking for comfort wines try the CMS Hedges if you are in the Accessible or Balanced Tribe and the Penfolds Koonunga Hills Shiraz Cabernet if you are in the Developed or Complex Tribes. And for those Complex folks looking for something to pair with meat, try the Ravenwood Old Vine Zinfandel. In the meantime, please share your favorite comfort wine. We might be needing it.

Cheers!

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