On Thursday, I had two glasses of this wine at Cichetteria 19, a restaurant owned by Andrea that used to be Valentino's Off the Square [and then Da Vino]. While he changed his Thursday happy hour specials, and the price difference caught me by surprise, I still enjoyed having two glasses of this beauty.

After a rough two days, I picked up a bottle of this [and I also discovered that he didn't gouge me on the price of wines].

This wine is phenomenal, essentially being the essence of dark chocolate. The tannins are very controlled, and the taste is concentrated spice, dark cherries and blackberries. This is a no joke wine, with some serious romantic potential; I could see numerous pregnancies being attributed to this wine being served at a meal.

As far as pairings, the back label says burgers, lasagna or blackened salmon, but I would expand this to some salads with tuna, salmon or chicken, anything blackened. This definitely would set it off with a nice steak that's crusted with pepper. Step your wine game up with this!