04 Owen Roe, Abbot's Table

This should be served in a large, gilded goblet. It's a monastic wine--disciplined and poetic, with the religiously milk chocolate texture of great Belgian trappist beer. The cabernet and merlot are meaty, fruity, and more fetishly bold than any right bank Bordeaux at this price point. The rest of the mix is the yang. Tart strawberries wrestle with black cherries: zinfandel v. pinot noir. Tannins velcro in the liquid panna cotta of herbal oak. They'd work with any steak dinner--ideally one smothered with gorgonzola--and also lamb, dark meat turkey, or wild mushroom risotto. But if you're eating with this wine, you've wasted money that could have been spent on a second bottle. As soon as I need dessert, the wine delivers with a smoky finish of fudgy walnut brownies and blueberry toffee.