The Winebearer [FF] | Mary-Kate Olsen & Ashley Olsen

Chapter 21 - Cigars & Dhampirs

Thanks to adjusting quickly to her environment, it didn't take long before Dorian Amsel started to get accustomed to working in the sectors of the conglomerate. Wilhelmina Mortimor and Magdalene Mortimor would go to their office as early as 7 AM while Dorian follows her official work schedule, and goes to work at 9 AM - about an hour before the Pearl of the Bay Megamall opens for customers.

Bit by bit, Dorian started to make friends within her sector, she guides the "baby somms" who still struggle with their fright with large restaurant crowds at the third-floor restaurants. Dorian helps her fellow Certified Sommeliers with the traditional restaurant services as well as wine cellar inventory and selection making. She even manages to befriend Nadya, the blue-eyed, blonde-haired Hungarian Master Sommelier with whom she's under her apprenticeship.

"Have you tried to pair cigars and wine before?" Nadya asks Dorian.

Dorian shook her head.

"But I harf a cigar before," Dorian replied. Cigars are usually paired with brandy, never would she imagine that she could experience pairing a thick roll of tobacco with a robust red wine.

"Fair enough," Nadya said.

Nadya (Master Sommelier) and Dorian unpack the rolls of cigars and prepare their glasses of wine, alongside their notepads and pens for writing their own opinions. Cigars and brandy. Wine and cheese. Cigars and rum. Red wine and steak - These pairings are legendary, not to mention delicious. But there is one cracking combination that is often overlooked; that of good wine and a great cigar.

They're not necessarily two luxuries that sommeliers immediately think of bringing together but who knows? There's no better time to reach for both your corkscrew and your lighter.

"Our findings here would be immediately printed at the conglomerate's main magazine firm in the Art de Vivre sector," Nadya said.

"Immediately? Like within the day the magazines will be out there?" Dorian asks.

"Yes. - (lights a cigar and smokes) - Both the printed and online. And will be read by the madames at the tower office." Nadya said, referring to the Parkers.

Nadya puffs out smoke.

Dorian took a sip of wine, then smoked a cigar.

A bottle of Tempranillo Rioja and a full-bodied Nicaraguan cigar are ideal for unlocking each other's nuances and hidden subtleties, the tobacco pipe teasing out the dormant flavours on the wine's swirl of scents - and the hardy wine standing up handsomely to the full-bodied smoke. Dorian Amsel lights up the intriguing San Cristobal (Nicaraguan cigar) with flavours ranging from caramels to cedar wood in its stick, alongside a bottle of a Torre Muga Tempranillo Rioja.