Region: California
Country: USA
Year: 2009
Price: $3.95
Food?: Paired with lasagna with wine infused sauce.
Winery Review:
"Dona Sol Merlot is a rich red-colored wine that has plentiful fresh fruit with hints of wild berries, raspberry, and vanilla. The fresh fruit continues into the palate and ends with a smooth finish."
My Review:
Our Valentine Wine! My boyfriend cooked Valentine's Day Lasagna Dinner with tomato sauce infused with Dona Sol Merlot Wine. The wine turned out to enhance the cheesy buttery goodness of the Lasagna, and brought out the peppery Italian Spices. On it's own, Dona Sol Merlot is a very dark, almost black-ruby color, with rich legs. Not too shabby for a wine under $5. The only thing I found off-putting about this red was it's nose, which had a strong, burning, rubbing alcohol and industrial smell to it. Pairing the wine with the rich, meaty, lasagna helped to tone down the wine's initial industrial nose, and allowed for the subtler cherry and plum flavors to come through. I also found that it made the dinner as a whole much more rich and well rounded. I suppose the lesson one could take from this pairing, is that perhaps a "cheap" wine can be enhanced by pairing it with food or infusing the food with the wine to bring out the subtler flavors. Overall, the dinner and wine made for a very nice pairing - maybe not a wine I would have again on it's own, but definitely with lasagna!
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