John and I finally cracked open a bottle of wine that he got last year at work for the holidays: A local wine, Pietra Santa, from the Cienega (See-YEN-eh-guh) Valley; a 1998 Merlot. The first sip packed a punch in the back of the throat, but the taste was very pleasant and slightly…. musky, in the good way that Merlots tend to be.
I’d definitely recommend this wine, and think it would probably go well with a steak dinner, provided the steak was cooked without a lot of added flavorings or marinades – don’t need too many flavors jumping around together when you’ve already got the wine going too. (Oh, and steak fries would be good also. We actually just had some potato chips with it, as it was after dinner, but it was an excellent combo, if not overly genteel – LOL!)
Also, drinking wine after 7 p.m. here has the added benefit of making our hands and feet feel a bit warmer tonight as well, of course. *grin*