Coffee-Infused Wine? One Sip Melted My Skepticism

Last week a friend posted a photo of this bottle of wine. She didn't actually tag me - she tagged someone else - but I was intrigued. So I located a bottle at my local BevMo and commented that she should come over for dinner to try it. Done.

I'll be honest: I was dubious. I like wine, but I like good wine and this seemed a little too gimmicky to me. Why would I need to drink wine infused with cold brew coffee?!?

Denise joked, "Do we drink it in the morning? Or at night?" We went for late afternoon.

Okay, so you know I love wine. And you probably know I adore coffee. But I had some reservations about mixing the two together. My skepticism, however, was completely washed away the moment I took the first sip.

The aroma from the glass is strongly of coffee, but not a bitter coffee; think of your favorite fruity coffee bean! On the tongue, it's a subdued red wine that verges on sweet, but not Port or dessert wine sweet. Just less tannic than other reds. In any case, my fears of two rights (red wine and cold brew coffee) making a wrong (coffee-infused wine) were completely unwarranted. I think we all enjoyed this.

I served smashed potatoes with bleu cheese, grilled wild board sausage with mustard, and a fusion entree of harissa-spiced kofta on top of mini pita with chimichurri on top. Yeah, yeah...that all sounds weird, right? But so does coffee-infused wine! And it all worked.

I will be posting recipes for these dishes soon. Stay tuned!

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