Clos De La Butte Muscadet paired with a Mil Dias LE 2021

I was challenged the other day to pair a cigar with white wine. Let me tell you that my experience with white wines is still minimal, but I’m not one to avoid many challenges. Upon accepting this challenge, I had to approach it a little differently than I have other pairings and chose a white wine, learned about the grape, and then chose a cigar I was familiar with.

For this pairing, I chose the Clos De La Butte Muscadet from Eric Chevalier.  The Muscadet is a lighter-bodied dry white wine which presents a challenge in pairing because you don’t want the cigar to overpower the notes of the wine.  The cigar I chose for this pairing is the Mil Dias LE 2021 from Crowned Heads. So, let’s get into the notes and see how this turns out for us.

Wine:

The Muscadet opens up with a nice bouquet with Oakey, grassy notes that also have subtle floral and fruity notes.  On the palate, the wine opens up very crisp with strong citrus notes and a bit of acidity, refreshing on a hot summer day. As the body opens up, you may notice that a bit of the Oakey grassy notes is present with hints of green apple and pear, bringing you a nice medium finish to close out. 

Cigar:

The Mil Dias has long been one of my favorite cigars, so for me, there wasn’t any question about choosing the LE 2021 for this pairing.  The cold draw on the cigar has a lot of leathery notes, reminding me of opening a brand-new pair of boots you just got home from the store. On the initial draw, I got some creamy, nutty notes similar to cashews with some fruity notes at the back of the palate and into the retro that reminded me of an apple pear.

Pairing:

The cigar brings the pear notes to the front of the wine while continuing throughout the body and toning down the citrus and acidity of the Muscadet. The wine retained its nice crispy, refreshing bouquet and notes throughout this pairing. When taking a draw from the Mil Dias after a sip of the wine, I noticed that the Oakey grassy notes were more prominent while toning down the creamy and leather notes presenting a nice change but not surprising to the draw of the cigar. When pairing a cigar with white wine, you will want to choose your pairing carefully so as not to overpower the wine or the cigar. For your white wines, I would recommend a lighter to medium-bodied cigar, but also, feel free to experiment with your pairings. You never know; you may find something you enjoy, as I have in this pairing.