On datenight, Mike and I dropped into The Wine Experience at
Jordan Creek Mall to discover their Summer 2012 wine list had just been
released. We tend to prefer reds and
didn’t want to spend more than $25 a bottle.
That’s still a pretty high price point for us, but it was date night, and we weren’t ordering
food so we were able to justify it. We
went with a 2010 Merlot called, Velvet Devil priced at $20. It’s produced by Charles Smith winery in
Washington State.
Perhaps I’d had too much Two-Buck-Chuck Shiraz the previous
day, but this wine knocked my socks off, which doesn’t happen too often. If you’ve seen my feet you’d understand. I’ve got a thing for “velvety wines”, so they
had me with the label… go figure.
The “bouquet” or “nose” of the wine (otherwise known as the
smell) was dark cherry, stone, old fruit cellar with slight smoky bacon or
cedar notes. Oh, who am I kidding, it
smells like bacon and grapes. Sure doesn’t sound like a future Yankee Candle
scent by any means, but it’s yummy.
I couldn’t get over how soft, silky and smooth this wine was. It was like drinking liquid velvet, at least that’s
what I would imagine liquid velvet to be like if you could in fact, drink it. Cheap wines are notorious for having that
burning/alcohol flavor that likes to camp out on your tongue for a while and
roast s’mores. Not this bottle. I hardly noticed a burn and the flavor was smokey,
fruity, with a hint of tart, and then suddenly gone. Sort of like our bottle.
I paired it with grilled burgers and it was almost spiritual.
I used 1 pound of good ol’ farm-raised
ground beef, formed it into 3 patties and sprinkled them with a smoky seasoning
blend I found in my mother-in-laws spice cupboard. I topped the grilled burgers
with ketchup and mustard. Halfway
through the burger I noticed ketchup, mustard and burger juice dripping down my
arm and off my elbow. I didn’t
mind. I was in heaven with the flavor
combination I had going on. Eventually I wiped my arm on my shirt and figured
I’d blame it on one of the kids later.
I do recommend picking up fresh bakery buns and slicing them
while the burgers are grilling verses buying store bought pre-sliced buns. There’s just no contest when it comes to
burger buns.
The Velvet Devil sells for $13.99 at Hy-Vee.
