Sauvignon Blanc with Don Kiki White Label

Sauvignon Blanc wine is usually considered the starters wine. It’s mild with mild fruit flavors, and at times lemony. While I normally prefer Chardonnay when drinking white wine, I decided to give Magito Sauvignon Blanc Rivertrace 2006 a shot with a comparably mild but flavorful Don Kiki White Label from the harvest of 2001 Double Corona.

First the Magito Sauvignon Blanc Rivertrace 2006. It comes from the California’s North Coast and it’s produced with 82% Sauvignon Blanc, 8% Viognier and 10% Verdelho. It’s the first time that I drink a wine with Verdelho that’s not from Spain. You’ll notice that it has a screw cap and not the traditional cork. Don’t let this influence you. Some of the best wines are now with screw caps, especially whites. The wine has crisp citrus and melon aromas that give a preview of what is coming. At first the wine is crisp and mild, with sweet melon that plays with lemon. I was somewhat concerned about smoking the cigar because citrus generally does not mix well with cigars. Citrus has a tendency to make cigars taste a little bitter. It has something to do with the taste buds. I’m hoping that the melon covers it enough to mix well with the cigar. To make sure that I don’t mess up this pairing, I drank a little bit of coffee to clean my palette. No more wine until after I start off the cigar.

Don Kiki White Label is a consistently good mild cigar. While some label it a medium-bodied cigar, I’m accustomed to smoking stronger cigars and therefore find most Connecticut-shade wrapper cigars to be mild.  I have run into 2 or 3 that seemed medium to full bodied, but those were the exceptions. Back to the Don Kiki White Label. It’s from the 2001 Vintage. This means that the filler tobacco is well aged and smooth-smoking. The Double Corona is 6 inches long with a ring gauge of 48. It’s not available in too many places as it has limited distribution. It comes from Cuban Crafters Cigars in Miami. This is Florida’s largest cigar store and it has a cigar factory in the center. You can smoke inside the store while drinking Cuban coffee with your cigar, and watching the Cuban-born cigar makers at work. It makes for an interesting experience.

The cigar started mild and smooth. You immediately taste cedar and nutmeg. After the first few puffs, the cream started taking over. After about an inch or so you start realizing why this cigar is always sold out. It’s delightfully smooth with sweet tobacco notes with vanilla notes and cream. The flavors blend beautifully, and the burn is exceptional. Now the real test, how does it go with the wine.

The first few sips of wine are as previously described. I made sure that the Sauvignon Blanc is cold, as I truly believe that white wine is meant to be drunk cold. Now I take a few puffs. The flavor is somewhat different than before. The cedar is more pronounced. I drink some more wine and finish the first cup while I take a few puffs. The cigar’s cream seems to bring out the sweeter fruit flavors of the wine. I’m almost one-third way down with the cigar. The flavors are intensifying. It plays well with the melon taste but I am starting to sense the citrus as an afterthought.

The wine in the mouth is fantastic by now. As I puff the cigar I do not feel the citrus affect, but after puffing out and swallowing, I feel the light bitterness caused by the citrus. It’s an acceptable level as the cedar and cream of the cigar overshadow it. Between the fruit and citrus of the wine and the cedar and cream of the cigar you have the bitter swallows. It’s sort of pleasure and pain, one making the other even better. But then again I may have been biased because of my past experiences with citrus drinks and cigar smoking.

My final recommendation is that while both are delightful individually, together they do not enhance each other. The citrus affect kicks in after the gulp. It’s an acceptable level of crisp bitters but defeats the purpose of drinking wine while smoking a cigar. Enjoy them by themselves, unless you prefer mild bittersweet intermissions.