A tasty Petit Verdot and a Zin just because...

In the midst of the dog days of summer, it seems almost sacrilegious to write about anything but a chilled glass of bubbly or a tasty, dry white to cool ones body and spirit. And yet, my newest post is to rave about some awesome rich, red wines.

The first is a 2012 Petit Verdot from Cooper Vineyards. I visited Cooper nearly a year and a half ago during the New Years holidays. Some friends had rented a house in Lake Annah and we spent our days hiking and then looking for a place to warm our taste-buds. Enter Cooper Vineyards. Located near the small town of Louisa, Cooper sits off a country road - the entrance to which gives the wine seeker a beautiful scene of the entirety of the winemaking grounds. He tatting room is decidedly and surprisingly modern - and I believe boasts a LEED designation - or at the very least it looks like it ought to. When I visited the Christmas decorations and lights still abounded, and it was a quiet but warm atmosphere.

The wines were really excellent - so much so that I was surprised I hadn't heard of them before my visit. Anyway fast forwards to two weeks ago when I was making some BBQ chicken. I was looking for something to go with the grill sand picked the Petit Verdot. To be honest I had forgotten the flavor of the wine but we were not disappointed. It was a rich, luscious flavor and very jammy; almost with hints of blackberry. It paired well with the BBQ, though it overpowered the chicken ever so slightly. But it had to have been one of the best VA reds I've had in recent history. We had it a day or two later and it held the flavor very well.

The second bold wine I had was 90+ Zinfandel. I was out running some errands when I stopped by a local wine bar, Screwtop. The sister store to my favorite place, Grateful Red (which, alas, shut down a few months back), I told the bartender I was looking for something different. Everything in me on this 90+ degree day wanted a white, bubby or rose wine. But I decided to go with this Zin. It was just a darn good glass of wine. I brought it home to have with some bison/beef hamburgers I was making that night and it was very tasty. I forgot to take a picture so I don't have what year it was - or the exact name. But look for a bottle with 90+ on the label in red. Totally worth it, and affordable too! It was about $13 or so if memory serves me correctly.

Enjoy these w/ your BBQ dishes and happy last dog days of summer.