Love is in the Air...

and if it’s not, here are a few helpful wines to create a festive Valentine's Day for your sweetheart or if you are throwing a party for one! Print this off and take it shopping with you over the weekend. Planning ahead will keep you out of the doghouse (for the men out there) and of course, for all the women, provide just another layer of classiness and set the mood for your Valentine's Day celebration.

BenMarco Expresivo and Susana Balbo Malbec

Wines for Soul Mates. Susana and her husband Pedro fell in love a few years ago then created their world-class winery Dominio del Plata in Mendoza. Their wines are truly a labor of love in so many ways. These two bottles are their trophies, hands-down these ultimate soul-mate bottles should be enjoyed between your soul mate, one delicious sip at a time. BenMarco Expresivo Tasting Notes: Wafting aromas of red currants, red and black cherries and mildly smoky and sweet vanilla oak. Layers of currant fruit, dense black cherry, and notes of brown spice (cocoa, nutmeg), dark chocolate, and hints of sandalwood. Keeps showing its stuff as it breathes in the glass - for folks who want the full experience and may be a bit impatient, decanting is a good idea. Perfect balance, great concentration and length loaded with fine, ripe tannins for having with food or for aging. This wine should also age beautifully for 10 - 25 years. Susana Balbo Malbec Tasting Notes: Beautiful deep violet color with exploding aromas of blackberry, black cherry, and violets. The wonderful aromas are mirrored on the palate and they are joined by ripe plum fruit and a hint of toasty vanilla, bittersweet chocolate, and a hint of mint on the finish. This is a very ripe and rich style of wine, but it never gets heavy or alcoholic. A fairly full-bodied Malbec, and it has plenty of fine, velvety tannins to carry the very long finish. A wine that truly struggles between its fun and serious side. This is what Malbec is all about.

Crios Rose of Malbec and Storrs Rusty Ridge Zinfandel

Perfect for the “singletons” on Valentine's night while watching the entire first season box-set of “Sex and the City” and pairs perfectly with BBQ Pizza and/or ESPN on the tube! These are two wines that I often don’t care to share with anyone while sipping. Crios Rose of Malbec Tasting notes: A beautiful, deep, vibrant rosé color. Has a surprising amount of glycerin and body for a rosé wine, and beautiful aromas of fresh, ripe wild strawberries. On the palate, the flavors of strawberries and cherries come rushing in, accompanied by some spice notes and a clean, dry finish. Storrs Rusty Ridge Zinfandel Tasting Notes: This is a big, beautiful, jammy yet elegant Zinfandel. Aromas of Black Fruit with a taste of Blackberries, Plums and Currants. The wine fills your mouth and coats it with a long, well rounded finish.

Fort Ross Reserve Pinot Noir

Ahh, this is the special wine to surprise your sweetie with who’s always on the go – traveling all over the place and has cleared the calendar to spend time with you on February 14. Decant this around 5pm to let the oxygen and wine work their magic…truly divine Pinot Noir. Tasting Notes: Swirling rose petals, wisps of smoke and wet earth. Then the lush red fruit, touched with violets, sassafras and teasing spices that enhance the native minerality of the vineyard. Suffused with deep ruby color, this full bodied, well structured and balanced wine has a lingering finish and a delicate tannin and acid balance to age with elegance and distinction. The Reserve Pinot Noir is primarily composed of old Burgundian field selections originating from Vosne-Romanée and Pommard and reflects this remarkable vintage that is considered the finest ever in California Pinot Noir.

Pellegrini Cloverdale Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon and Handley Cellars Anderson Valley Chardonnay

For traditionalists…both of these hand crafted wines are superb in quality and affection. A glass of each of these will send you back to the day you fell in love and still feel so comfortable and deeply in love with your Valentine. Cloverdale Cabernet Tasting Notes: The wine shows exceptional color, depth and aromatics of chocolate, roasted coffee, vanilla and black cherry. With lots of toasted oak and cardamom spice, this wine offers a well-structured mouthfeel, good balanced acidity and a long finish. Handley Cellars Tasting Notes: This wine exhibits many of the characteristics you have come to expect from Handley’s Estate Chardonnay: baked apple, mineral, and pear, with elegance and balance. The 2004 vintage also has tropical overtones, with hints of tangerine and pineapple. The complexity and pleasant acidity of this wine will complement rich buttery foods.

Tikal Amorio

This bottle is perfect for a new “love affair”, seductive, powerful and the sexiest bottle of red wine in the TexaCali Wine Co. portfolio. Perfectly paired with a little old school Maxwell or even older Marvin Gaye and candlelight. Tasting notes: Mouthwatering, penetrating flavors of ripe red and black cherries, red berries. Quite rich and velvety on the palate and finishes with just enough grip to make it a real winner with food. This is some seriously sexy Malbec.

These wonderful wines are on restaurant wine lists all over Texas – keep your eyes out when ordering or send me an email asking where to find them in your city. Cheers - Ali