Chateau D'Oupia Minervois: my Comfortable Safety Blanket & Cheese

MASTER BAKERS,
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As you may have guessed from my last post, I'm getting quite a thrill from blogging events. Or at least, the last one (my first) was really fun. Now I'm trying another event, one that is more wine focused.

Joel at Wine Life Today is heading a group called Wine Blogging Wednesdays, and he shouted on the top of a mountain that this week's theme would be comfort wines. What is your comfort wine, he asked. We'll, as I'm really excited to be part of a wine or food group of a fun caliber that will have me, I decided to answer. Of course, I'll also pair it with a food.

Chateau D'Oupia is my wine blanket. I don't know how many other bloggers will also call their favorite comfort wine their blanket, so I'll also phrase it another way to further explicate.

Chateau D'Oupia's Minervois blend is both my mac and cheese and hot cocoa on a cold winter's night after a long day trying to ski the bunny hill but failing because I keep running into snow banks since I haven't yet learned a successful snow plow.

Made of Carignon, Syrah and Grenache, the Oupia is just the seductive wine that I want after a long day's pretending that I don't care that my family skies the diamond hills without me. Then again, the Oupia is just the sort of wine I want, anytime.

The comforting blanket mainly lies in the wine's straightforward yet charming flavors. Dark berries, pepper, minerals, slightly sanguine and sometimes even meaty, the Oupia is the wine that I want to sip after trying to explain the varying nuances of three different Barbarescos to a customer. Gosh, I don't know, they're all different, but this one is better. It is a wine that needs very little explanation. Its just amazingly good, and it is even better two days after opening. Thereby I know that if my husband doesn't get to it, there will be a mighty fine tasting glass waiting for me at home. That's comfort.

The best part, however, is that the tasty comfort that is Oupia is a great food wine. Nice acidity, a touch o' tannin, and a slightly meaty character that absolutely loves..... cheese. Almost as much as I do.

In fact, the Oupia is the best red wine I've ever had with cheese. Most reds like to play in the danger zone with cheese- will they pair well, will they not- but Oupia is relatively safe. It loves funky sheep's cheeses just as well as fresh chevres and Mt. Tam.

It's also amazing with fresh pastas served with Brussels sprouts with garlic and bacon (last nights dinner), or lasagna (yeah, Oupia's acidity take on the tomatoes), mac and cheese, or BBQ potato chips. Really.

What's comfort in a bottle not beginning with Southern? I say Chateau d'Oupia's Languedoc, Minervois basic red blend.

Thank you winemaker winemaker Andre Iche, for introducing us to your fabulous, sincere wines. You'll also be missed.