If you are determined to drink a glass of wine with your next cigar, I have a suggestion. Use a third item as an intermediary.  I recommend junk food, of course.  But there is such a wide range of goodies out there, where does one begin.  Believe me, I have tried everything. I’ve tried eating chips, bread, cheese, various forms of tacos, and nothing seems to really work except one thing. Chocolate.

Chocolate is the miracle food, pairing well with both cigars and wine. I have found that for a cigar the darker the chocolate the better. It doesn’t have to be that sweet but foods that are naturally bitter or salty make the whole experience worse because there are tannins, astringent properties, and other calamitous chemical interactions in combining cigars and wine with many foods.  So, semi sweet is the ticket.

I was drinking an inexpensive Merlot, from Columbia Crest Grand Estates in Washington.  It’s a very common wine, but popular for good reason; it’s extremely drinkable and very, very consistent from year to year.  Plus,  you can drink the whole bottle without overspending your budget.  Anyway, I grabbed a small bowl of chocolates for my living room, which contained chocolate pieces from Ghiradelli, Dove, and Godiva.  The Ghiradelli pieces were Dark Chocolate with white mint, the Godiva had caramel centers, and the Dove were solid dark chocolate pieces.  All are inexpensive (but good) and can be bought by the bag.

First, the Ghiradelli.  The mint flavoring was wild with the cigar, blending in such a way that it was hard to tell with the cigar taste ended and the mint taste began. It was extraordinary. When drinking wine right after a taste of the mint it worked very well. However, I think it only worked because I was drinking a Merlot, which is by nature very mild.  If it had been say, a Syrah, the results might have been … Combative.  The Dove chocolate did what I hoped for; the mellow, slightly sweet taste acted as a punctuation to the cigar, and when followed by the Merlot, was perfect.  The wine’s smooth flavor shine through. Bravo! The Godiva was slightly less perfect, not because it wasn’t good but because the caramel was out of place in the experience.  Godiva makes fabulous chocolates, but I would stick with solid chocolate pieces for this kind of situation involving tobacco.

So there you go – a serious, targeted research project on a question of galactic importance- how to smooth out the wine/cigar conundrum.

Many of you who do this kind of thing are probably yelling at me right now through your computer screens. You were probably saying something to the effect of, why not drink port wine? Why do you insist on drinking a regular red wine? I agree, port wine would probably be a better choice.  However, this blog is targeted toward those who have already opened that bottle of Merlot, and are faced with the massive stress of deciding what to do while drinking it.  I hope this has provided some relief for you.  Red Wine and cigars CAN reach detente, as long as you have good dark chocolate to act as a demilitarized zone between the two.