Christmas Wine

Have you ever, on a special occasion, wanted to perfectly pair a favorite food with a favorite wine, and then realized that neither one of them really matched, so you said, "oh well, screw it," and had your yummy food with a favorite wine which really didn't go together? That's what we did this Christmas (and we had most of the wine consumed before the food). We have a new "tradition" (going on 2 consecutive years when we don't fly out of state to visit relatives) of having a Mexican feast on Christmas. We don't have a particularly favorite wine (yet) that goes well with this type of food (although dark Mexican beer seems to work quite well), and we have been wanting to find a special time to drink a very special wine, La Colombaia Valpolicella Ripasso (2003). We discovered this wine at a tasting about 3 years ago, and although it was less than $20, we realized that this is a very delicious Italian wine meant to be cherished. This red is well-balanced with dark fruit and nuances of vanilla and spice. Muy bien or molto bene!