2001 Kracher No 8. Auslese from Binnys for $20

This wine was on sale for $20 at Binnys from originally $50. This wine is a very dark yellow color, almost like liquid carmel. I found the wine to be very sweet with lots of honey flavor with some orange blossom. This wine is your ideal dessert wine, where a little bit goes a long way. This wine was great on its own, but you could also pair it with some lighter desserts, this wine is too thick with legs to have an extremely heavy dessert paired with it. I should have bought more of these style of wines when they were on sale because this is the last bottle of the group and it will be a long time before they have that sale again.

2008 Le Cigare Blanc from Bonny Doon Vineyard for around $20

Nero Misto by Elise Winery in California for $20 at Binnys

This wine is from the first winery that I ever visited in Napa Valley. I loved a white wine they made, but their red wines are just too dry for me. This wine is made with some lesser known Italian grapes, the wine bottle does not do the specifics for particular grapes, but this has to be a food wine for me. We have only had tacos this week in terms of red meat, and we tried pairing this with chocolate and it is too dry. I think this wine would be best paired with pasta versus any other dish. I don't think I did this wine justice, and my review not being favorable may be a result of poor pairing and not the wine itself.

Coopers Hawk's White Zinfandel for $13.99 in South Barrington

We tried this wine at the February tasting at Cooper Hawk in South Barrington. This wine actually replaced the fruit wine they normally taste. This wine is a great summer wine, with some sweetness and some acidity I can see drinking this by a pool or at a barbecue all summer long. The wine is a beautiful orange/pink color that went with a chocolate covered orange cream perfectly. This wine is great wine for drinking on its own, I am sure you could pair it with some spicy dishes, but I did not like it with steak tacos, maybe some type of fish dish with a citrus sauce. Either way, I would definitely buy this wine again.

The Chook-Sparkling Shiraz-$18 at Binnys

I love Sparkling Shiraz, I just don't love the price tag. This wine is very cherry and raspberry with great bubbles. I drank this all day on Valentines Day and it was wonderful. I paired this with some chocolate, but that did not seem to pair well with the ones I chose. My better half thought this wine was too dry. I thought this wine is great just too pricey to drink on a regular basis. I wish this was about $10 a bottle and then I would drink it more often.

Valentines Day Tastings from Lynfred and the Patis/Graham household

The Lynfred Winery's Chocolate and Wine Pairing was on Thursday before February 14th.

1. Reserve Semillion wtih dark chocolate carmel dusted with salt-the best pairing
2. Sparkling Berry with cayenne/cinnamon truffle-the worst pairing
3. Cabernet Reserve 1999 with white chocolate carrot cake truffle-ok
4. Fresavino Strawberry Port with the raspberry truffle-ok
5. Merlot 2006 with Merlot walnut carmel-good
6. Carbernet Shiraz 2004 with currant truffle-very good
7. Late Harvest Riesling-bananas foster truffle-ok
8. Ice Wine 2002-Chai Tea truffle-ok

Graham/Patis Chocolate and Wine Pairing on Valentine's Day
1. Sparkling Shiraz-currant truffle-ok
2. Dry Italian Blend by Elise winery-raspberry truffle-not good, truffle not sweet enough, with carmel cream-not good together,
3. White Zinfandel-bananas foster truffle-good with the orange cream chocolate-the best pairing
4. Bluemoon- straight chocolate-not good-cherry cordial chocolate-better
5. Port-chai tea truffle-very good
6. Red Ice Wine -cayenne/cinnamon truffle-not good, the truffle is just way too spicy

Coopers Hawk Cabernets for just slight under $20 at the Cooperhawk Restaurant in South Barrington

This wine is the wine of the month at Coopershawk. The name is cute, Cabernets, as it is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Cabernet Franc, you could not swap out for a different wine as this was part of the promotion in December when you bought $100 gift card. This wine is very dry, strong tannins, and I can't even think of having it without food. With a strong cheese it is ok, but the fruits are pretty dark and I think this wine needs red meat or lamb. My guess is this wine could have been aged some, but since we have 2 wines that we are aging that is enough until I can afford to buy a bigger wine fridge.