John Brown has been a wine and food columnist in West Virginia since the 1980’s. His regular columns appear in the Charleston (WV) Gazette-Mail under the title Vines & Vittles.
WineBoy Recommends: ‘05 Newton Napa Valley Claret
WINEBOY RECOMMENDS: 2005 Newton Napa Valley Claret ($25) Claret (pronounced Clair-it) is the term the British use to refer to the red wine of Bordeaux. The Newton Claret is a Napa Valley blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, petit verdot and syrah. It is a rich, chocolaty, minty, mouthful of wine that -- while it should benefit from a few more years in the bottle -- is ready to enjoy now. I matched it with thick, oven-broiled pork chops glazed with a delicious, roasted raspberry chipotle sauce. (I must confess – the glaze is from a bottle, Fischer & Wieser, and I ordered it from www.jelly.com.) The ’05 Newton Claret is a pleasure to enjoy over a long winter’s dinner with someone special.
