Que Syrah, Syrah!

This week I was planning something nice for Valentine’s Day, James has such a sweet tooth that I decided to order him a chocolate lava cake and of course, we needed some nice wine to go with it. After a little research about wine pairings I came across Drink Dispatch online wine boutique that suggested a local Washington Syrah from Owen Roe with chocolate notes along with dark berries to pair with the cake and it was even delivered straight to my door so I didn’t have to go looking for it.

The Ex Umbris Syrah sounded so perfect that I ordered 2 bottles so I could play around with one for a special cocktail to share with you because I thought the smoky undertone described would work really great (which it does). I decided to mix something really refreshing that would balance with the dark fruit flavors in this Syrah. I find gin is always a good starting point and it works best mixed with some fresh lemon juice, but it was still missing something. I had some strawberries left over from another shoot earlier in the day so I chopped one up and put it in the mix for a fresh fruit hit and this really worked well with the Syrah and lemon juice. If you want something a little earthier, a nice tequila, pisco, or mezcal would really be great in this concoction also.