Kentucky Derby Wine

It's tomorrow. It's the 147th Run for the Roses. And, honestly, there are good reasons that although wine is always appropriate, people just don't associate the Kentucky Derby with wine. Kentucky is known for Bourbon and for good reason.

Kentucky does have a few wineries, however. But, I have to say that while I knew there were a few, I knew nothing about them. And, now I know why. 

I went to the websites for all the Kentucky wineries that I could find. They all seem to "feature" wines the problem being that most of the featured wines are not made of grapes. No, they are made of blueberries (they must grow a lot of blueberries in Kentucky), blackberries, currants, and pomegranate. It's not even clear to me that they are made through a fermentation process in the case of one winery.

The wineries in Kentucky seem to like to recommend pairings for their wines. That's a nice thing. They tell you what food will enhance their wines and vice versa. It's a curious thing, though. They recommend that all of their red wines that are made from grapes be paired with steak. The full-bodied tannic ones get paired with steak, the medium-bodied moderately tannic wines get paired with steak, and the light-bodied far less tannic wines get paired with steak. 

Hmm.

So, here is the Kentucky Derby wine recommendation, at least if you are in Kentucky.

Get yourself a few mint leaves, probably four or five. Snap two or three of them and muddle them in a glass. Add one-half ounce simple syrup (that's sugar water, essentially). Add two ounces of Bourbon (Woodford Reserve if you are going to be proper) and fill the glass with crushed ice. Stir -- do not shake -- and garnish with the rest of your mint.

Put on a fancy hat and watch the race.


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