Summer is my favorite season. It’s hard to be indoors this time of year. The long, long evenings invite backyard BBQ’s, beach picnics, outdoor concerts, camping weekends, or just lazing by a pool. A great accompaniment to all those occasions is our Laurel Glen Counterpoint Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s the kind of wine that travels well, pairs easily, and turns any summer meal into a celebration.
How can I claim that a big, bold Cabernet Sauvignon will pair as well with a beach picnic as with just listening to music? It’s because we are very choosy about what goes in the bottle. From our Estate vineyard, we use only the grapes from each vintage with the softest tannins and the biggest fruit. Plus, there is a secret ingredient: Merlot from our neighbor on Sonoma Mountain. Our Counterpoint Cabernet Sauvignon is close to 20% Merlot and the Merlot grapes add a roundness and freshness to the wine. The wine is flavorful, medium-bodied and approachable. The 2021 vintage has aromas of black cherry, black olive, and chocolate and is velvety in texture.
Although we are trained to think red wine is best at room temperature, a slight chill (maybe an hour in the refrigerator or half an hour in an ice bucket) helps make the wine taste less tannic – in other words smoother. This time of year especially, if you’re grilling in your backyard, put the Cabernet bottle in the ice bucket or fridge for a bit; if you’re going on a picnic, throw a couple of ice packs into your insulated cooler bag with the wine.
Whether you’re going to the beach, the woods, or simply your backyard, here are some ideas for how to enjoy our Laurel Glen Counterpoint Cabernet Sauvignon:
- Backyard BBQ: Try it with grilled tri-tip or marinated portobello burgers. Don’t forget the grilled onions and new potatoes!
- Beach Picnic: Manifest a French countryside picnic! Think baguettes, cheeses like brie, compté and fresh chèvre, cured meats, and dark chocolate. (Or maybe just bread and chocolate?) No French picnic is complete without a bottle of red wine!
- Camping in the Woods: Everything tastes better packaged in foil and cooked in a fire. Try sausage and potato foil packets or mushroom, zucchini and parmesan foil packets. Foil packets are easy to prepare ahead of time and sausages and vegetables won’t spoil if left unrefrigerated for a bit. A bottle of Counterpoint Cabernet Sauvignon will make everything better if you forget the salt or undercook your potatoes.
Another thing I love about summer here in Sonoma Valley is that we are surrounded by lush, green vineyards even though most of the state has dried out and turned yellow – or maybe gold. One of the reasons California is known as the Golden State is because the hills turn from green to gold (yellow?) in the late spring and stay that way up until the winter rains start around Thanksgiving. Here in Sonoma Valley though, about the time the hills turn gold, the vineyards are waking up from their winter sleep, unfurling leaves and turning green. Right now, you can see several shades of green in the vineyards lining just about every road in our valley: the dark green of the leaves, the light green of the tendrils and the yellow-green of the newly forming clusters.
We hope you’ll come visit and see for yourself. But wherever your California summer takes you—from sandy toes to open roads—bring a bottle of wine along and see for yourself that summer fun is better with wine.
Cheers!