Today’s the big day and I know some of you are already in a panic. Yep, there’s some slim pickings at the neighborhood florist right about now.
Never fear, every Valentine really wants a good bottle of wine. If not, you have to ask why not. It’s the least you could do before you dump ’em.
Anyway, I digress. Which wine, you might wonder? This time of year I get all sorts of suggestions for the perfect Valentine’s Day wine. Most of them would get you some serious time in the dog house.
Do not, I repeat, do not show up tonight with a bottle of Argentine Malbec. Or a Shiraz from the Barossa. You might squeeze by with a lovely Chianti, but only because even a frog could pass for romantic arriving at the door with something Italian.
But why chance it. This is a no-brainer. It’s Valentine’s Day for crying out loud. It’s got to have bubbles or it must be sweet, or some combination of the two (come to think of it, the Rosa Regale Brachetto d’Acqui is just about perfect for the occasion).
If you’re really lucky when you hit the wine shop on the way home you’ll find a wonderful sparkling rose; perhaps the exceptional J Wine Company Brut Rose or the Laurent Perrier Brut Rose Champagne.
But let’s face it, any Champagne from a respected Champagne house will make a good impression. That’s your ace in the hole.
Then there is the world of dessert wine, particularly Port, Sherry and Madeira. The Blandy’s Alvada Madeira is a beautifully balanced Madeira — sweet, but not too sweet — and it comes in at about the same price ($20 or thereabouts) as the Rosa Regale.
Then there are the great Tawny Ports. I’ll throw out the Graham’s 20-Year-Old (about $60) just for fun, but you’d have to search to find a 20-year-old Tawny from a reputable producer that wasn’t at least passable.
And a PX Sherry will get the job done as well. My favorite is from Osborne but, again, good Sherry producers rarely miss with their top end dessert Sherry. Osborne is easy to spot because of the huge black bull on the label!
When in doubt, go for the bull.
Happy hunting!
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