whine on wednesdays

No, that isn’t a typo in the title. 

I think I have milked the wine bag dry. When I first got the bright idea for Wine on Wednesdays I thought I had hit the mother lode. “I love wine! I’ll never run out of topics to blog about!” As is my fashion, I completely underestimated the difficulty of the task.  “How hard can ripping up the carpet in the living room be? I’ll wait until my husband leaves town and find out!”  Big mistake.

Turns out, I know jack shit about wine other than what I like and don’t like to drink.  I would love to learn more, but until the Earth slows its rotation a bit and gives us a few more hours in the day, that ain’t happening.

Plus, I found a blog about wine that is humorous and informative and says everything I would like to say if I had the slightest clue about anything wine related.  I stole ideas from that blog.  Not my proudest moment, but I was desperate. So, if you want to read about wine, go to Dr. Vino’s Wine Blog. It is awesome.  And yes, he really is a doctor.    

Another reason why I shouldn’t be blogging about wine on a regular basis is that I’m actually trying to cut down on my wine consumption. (Gasp!)  Yes, I’m afraid so.  No more wine during the week for me and only one bottle on the weekends (not counting parties and special occasions).  Why?  Well, I feel really crappy when my husband comes home from an AA meeting and I’m on the couch, half way to sloshed with red teeth.  (I’ve neglected to mention that my husband is a recovering alcoholic because up until two months ago he wasn’t “recovering.”  Remember all those posts about serious crap going on in my life? Yeah, that’s one of them.)  Luckily, when my husband sees wine he doesn’t think “alcohol, drunky fun time!”  He thinks, ”foul, evil beverage that makes my brain melt!”  So, I’ve been able to keep my wine cooler and enjoy wine whenever I wish without it bothering my husband.  But, I know it isn’t fair that I get to indulge, so I’ve cut down.

Bottom line: I’m not feeling it anymore.  And, if I’m not feeling it, then I’m not going to write about it.  I had a good run – eleven wine posts.  Okay, that’s kinda lame, but at least I quit before I started churning out crap.  Right?

One last little wine related item . . .

Does anyone know how I can get red wine into an empty (unused) blood bag?

You know, for Halloween!

wine on wednesdays

So, no one has any problems emptying their bottles of wine.  (If you do, please feel free to ship any of those pesky bottles to me.)  But, what about the corks?  Most wine drinkers I know have at least one bowl, box or vase full to overflowing with orphaned corks.  Why do we feel compelled to keep them?  Do we need those little reminders of happy wine times?  I mean, how often have you plucked a cork from the pile and remembered exactly what you were doing while you enjoyed the wine (special occasions, not included)?  Some of us believe, erroneously, that one day we will make something with all those corks.  One day.  Meanwhile, they keep piling up.  Ever since I was a child, my mom always told us she would make a cork raft and float away across the ocean, never to be seen again.  While she does now live near the beach, she has still yet to set sail on the S.S. Ernest & Julio. 

Well, I have my own cork collection and, being the crafty type, I do want to make something with them.  There are tons of options. 

Cork Trivet

Cork Board

Cork Wreath

All fairly pedestrian stuff.  I want to try something different.  Something that you don’t see every day.

Wine Cork Bath Mat

I really like this bath mat.  I bet it would have a massaging effect on your feet, too.   

Wine Cork Vase

Now, this is a little more ambitious.  Not very practical as a vase unless you use fake or dried flowers, which in my house are just called “dust collectors.”

Okay, here’s more along the lines of what I’m talking about.

Wine Cork Chair

That actually looks pretty comfy!  Believe it or not, I don’t have enough corks to make a footstool, much less a whole chair, but this does give me something to work toward.  Everyone needs a goal, right?

What about you guys?  Done anything interesting with those wine corks that you can’t seem to throw away?

*click on the pics to go to the websites where they can be found

wine on wednesdays

I remember when I was a child, my mother tucked a very large glass jug under the counter in a dark corner of the kitchen.  The jug was filled with a murky liquid that would occasionally foam and bubble like some modern-day witch’s cauldron.  There it sat, gurgling away for weeks and weeks.  And weeks.  What was this science experiment?  My mom was making peach wine.  She did drink it eventually, but I have no idea how good it was as that was way before my wine days. 

Homebrew wine is still popular today with overachievers who would rather baby a jug of juice and living cultures for weeks on end than pay retail.  I’m all for DIY, but some things I leave to the professionals.  Namely, computer repair and wine. 

However, this little product is so ghetto fabulous that I just may change my mind.

    

It’s called Spike Your Juice and it’s pretty much exactly how it sounds.  You add the packet of what I assume is some kind of yeast and magic to a bottle of 100% fruit juice, cap with the special topper that lets the gasses safely escape and wait about 48 hours.  Added to grape juice you get wine, of sorts.  Added to cranberry or orange juice and you get my kind of breakfast. 

The process and the resulting wine is actually based on a European wine called Federweisser.  It’s a sparkly wine type beverage that was only made during the harvest in September and October.  This type of wine continues to ferment in the bottles, so it can’t be shipped and wasn’t available in areas not located close to vineyards.  Now, thanks to the fine people at Spike Your Juice, you can make this wine at home.

I am so tempted to try this.  You wouldn’t think less of me would you?

wine on wednesdays

Is it Wednesday already?  I don’t mean to sound unprepared, but these weeks just seem to be flying by lately.  Have I mentioned how much I appreciate you, dear readers, for reading my rambling and completely uneducated wine posts?  Well, let me remedy that right now. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Okay, back to the wine.

Some people take their wine very seriously.  Ridiculously seriously.  You can tell these people not only by the type of wine they drink, but also the accessories.  It’s all about the accessories, right?  Ultra sophisticated openers, stoppers made from precious metals and blown glass aerators that look like works of art.  Some might say that owning a 36 bottle wine cooler is going a bit overboard, but I would like to tell those people that they have no idea what they are talking about and they should just keep their big mouths shut if they know what’s good for them.  Ahem.  Uh.  Where were we?

Yes! Ridiculous accessories.  How about these.

Wine glasses that represent the seven deadly sins.  They’d be funny if the website didn’t seem to take itself just a teensy bit too seriously.  The creator encourages the drinker to be theatrical.  Last thing I want when I’m drinking wine is drama. 

Or, how about a jewel encrusted bottle stopper?

 

Yeah, that would look real nice keeping my nine dollar bottle of Berninger fresh. 

No.  I think something like this is more my taste.

This would be better if the corkscrew part folded down switchblade style so you could use them as real brass knuckles, but this is pretty bad-ass, too.  Wine isn’t for sissies!  Believe me, I’ve been to some wine tastings where if you weren’t quick enough, you’d get elbowed in the ribs or hip-checked out of the line.  Wine can make some people so angry.     

Yeah, you can keep your bedazzled bottle stoppers and fancy schmancy theatrical wine glasses.  Just give me a red Solo cup and a brass knuckle opener and I’m ready to party.

wine on wednesdays

You go to the store, pull a wine bottle from the shelf and set it in your cart.  Simple, huh?

Well, it can get simpler.  For some time now, we’ve had the option of pulling down a box from the shelf that holds the equivalent of four bottles.  Yes, box wine.  It’s come along way from Franzia and it’s sticky sweet offering with subtle hints of mylar.  I’ve tried the Merlot from Black Box and it wasn’t bad.  Not great.  But, it didn’t go to waste.  I’m not proud. 

Imagine if it could be even simpler.  What if you could bring in an empty bottle, gallon milk jug or mason jar to the store and fill it up with wine as if you were filling your car with gas? 

Well, imagine no more.  If you live in France, that is. 

Pull up to the machine, select your vintage and pump into the container of your choice.  The winery saves money because they don’t have to fill and ship individual bottles and they pass that savings on to the consumer who is also recycling containers.  Win-win and win!  Hopefully all the red tape can be cut so we can get these machines in the states soon.  We need to write some letters and make this happen, people.  

You can read more about these machines at this fun wine blog, Dr. Vino.  But, please, once you have read his thoroughly researched, well-written blog, please come back to my shabby little corner of the interweb. 

He doesn’t love you like I do!

wine on wednesdays

Yesterday was my sister’s birthday, however we celebrated it on Saturday cause I can’t drink three bottles of wine on a Tuesday and be a productive member of society the next day.  Lucky for us, our favorite place on earth, Frogtown Winery, was having their Harvest Dinner.

We arrived in Dahlonega, GA around 3:00 and checked into our room at the Park Place Hotel.  After a brief, but intense, monsoon which conveniently waited to fall just as we were getting our bags out of my car, we unpacked and enjoyed the complementary bottle of Oak Leaf Cabernet the hotel graciously offered.  This fine wine can be procured from your local Wal-Mart for around $4.00 a bottle.  Never ones to turn our noses up at free wine, we drank every drop.

After the cheap bottle, we were ready for the good stuff, so we made our way to Frogtown.

That's us in the mirror. I'm the one in the yellow cause having a loud voice just isn't enough, I suppose.

We found a table and were soon joined by Ron and Deborah.  You couldn’t ask for two nicer, funner people to share a good dinner with.  They were awesome and made the whole experience even more enjoyable.  Really, if I didn’t already have parents I would ask them to adopt me (I gave them my web address and told them to tune in today, if you couldn’t tell.  Hi, Deborah and Ron!  You rock!).

Anyway, we were served a four course dinner with wine to complement each course.  Here’s the menu:

House Smoked Salmon with Spicy Creme Fraiche and Crostini paired with Frogtown Rose 2008.  The Rose was dry and not too sweet and was excellent with the spicy creme fraiche.  

Baby Arugula Salad with Scallops and Grain Mustard served with Frogtown Vineaux Blanc 2008.  Those scallops were perfection and even though I’m not big on white wine, I enjoyed this pairing.

Medallions of Peppered Pork Tenderloin with Wild Mushrooms with Kritzer Family Reserve Merlot 2006.  You can never go wrong with pork and Merlot.  Or just Merlot, for that matter.  Especially this Merlot.

Lamb Chops over Currant Minted Couscous and Grilled Asparagus served with Frogtown Tannat 2006.  The Tannat is big and bold and was excellent with the lamb.

For dessert they had a buffet of half a dozen different pies, tortes and cakes.  I managed to sample three of them, but by then I feared for the button on my pants. 

There is no better way to experience how a wine can complement a dish than attending a dinner such as this.  I know that I don’t ever take the time to pick out just the right wine to go with my spaghetti and meatballs at home and I probably never will.  However, I do appreciate the art of wine and food pairings and really enjoy when I can let the experts make those decisions. 

I mean, would you trust any decisions made by these two?

The one on the left, maybe.  But, definitely not the other one.  

wine on wednesdays

So, you go out to a nice dinner with some friends and share a fabulous bottle of wine which you swear you will never forget and will purchase post-haste.  Now, weeks later, you are in the store, standing before a towering wall of wine and you can’t remember the name of that fabulous bottle to save your sorry life. 

Sound familiar?  Yeah.  I’ve been there, staring slack-jawed at rows and rows of bottles, desperately trying to remember if the wine I loved so much was a Merlot or a Cab and did it have a horse on the label?  Or maybe it was a wagon?  Something farm related?  Damn, my wine-addled mind!

So, what are we do to? 

Well, you could always carry a wine journal.  There are numerous styles out there, even my beloved Moleskine makes one.  They are a great way to organize your wine preferences and record new wines that you come across.  However, you have to remember to take it with you.  Ah, there’s the rub.  It’s useless if you leave it sitting on the kitchen counter while you are at the restaurant.  You could constantly carry it with you in your purse (or man satchel, for the fellas), but who needs another thing to tote around?  You could get clever and only take your wine journal to tastings, but any tasting worth their water crackers has handouts listing all the wines being offered and their pertinent data.  All you have to do is make notes on the handout, or if you’re like me, scribble a smiley face if the wine was good or a yucky face if it wasn’t.  Sophisticated, I know.

Most people, including myself, usually have some sort of day planner or notebook with them that they can use to jot down a new wine.  However, restaurants and bars don’t always have the best lighting.  Great for my complexion, bad for trying to write legibly.  Plus, my handwriting has a serial killer quality to it even when I am sober.  After a couple glasses of wine, it begins to resemble ancient Sanskrit. 

As much as I love paper and notebooks and drawing smiley faces, I abandon these out-dated modes of record keeping for a more 21st century option -  I just take a frickin’ picture of the wine label with my phone.  Boom.  Done.

I don’t need to make a note of the region or distributor or heck, even the vintage.  All I need know is that I liked it so much I took a picture of it.  I don’t need an app for that.  Then, when I walk into the wine shop, all I have to do is hold up my phone to the salesperson, point at the picture and say “This.”  Smiling helps, too.

Lesson for today:  Keep it simple.

Speaking of simple . . . Have you opened a bottle that had a glass stopper instead of a cork? 

Wineries have been playing around with alternatives to cork for a while.  Some have opted for the synthetic cork, which can be difficult to remove or the screw-top, which some people unfairly turn their nose up at (I’ve had great screw-top wine).  A few years ago Alcoa came up with a glass (or Plexiglass for less expensive wines) stopper as a cork replacement.  It’s easier to remove than cork because there is no opener required and it’s great for closing half consumed bottles (I have heard that this happens).  I’ve only seen them a few times.  Once was on a bottle of Cusumano (Nero d’Avola, I think) that I had with friends while at Monteluce Winery a couple years ago.  We had a few bottles and took the glass corks home to reuse.  I love when drinking and being eco-friendly go hand in hand. 

Any suggestions for a future WoW post?  Email me at wineonweds @ hotmail.com.  Or don’t.  Your call. 

wine on wednesdays

And Noah he often said to his wife when he sat down to dine,
‘I don’t care where the water goes if it doesn’t get into the wine’.
G.K. Chesterton(1874–1936)
Wine and Water

 

Back in the day, I used to be a liquor only type of gal.  Vodka and cranberry was my poison of choice.  This is great if you are out on the town where some bartender is at your beck and call to pour, shake and garnish as many drinks as your charge card can hold.  However, when the party is at a friend’s house you have to pack a cooler with vodka, juice and limes then set up shop in some cramped corner of their kitchen where you can concoct your cocktail.  Then, whenever you want a refill you have to do it yourself cause no one else can get the ratio of vodka to cranberry the way you like it plus they always forget the lime.  This gets old. 

So, to make gettin’ my drink on a little less time consuming, I tried wine.  At first, the only wine I could stomach was White Zinfandel.  It’s pink and sweet and cold (much like vodka-cranberries) and I loved it.  For about two years this was the only type of wine I drank aside from the occasional Riesling or champagne. 

Barrel room at Wolf Mountain Winery, Dahlonega, GA

I don’t remember exactly when I started to branch out and try other types of wine.  I do remember that it was a very slow process.  I learned that I don’t like Chardonnay or many other types of white wine.  This led me to try lighter, sweeter reds like Shiraz and Pinot Noir.  From there, I got the courage to try darker reds that, up until that point, had been too much of a shock to my palate.  I was surprised to find that I really liked Cabernet and Merlot.  Soon, I was drinking the darkest, chewiest reds out there and enjoying most of them.  I’ve since leveled off a bit and now mostly enjoy Pinot Noirs and Spanish reds like Malbec or Tempranillo, except in the winter when I really like a good Merlot.   

This evolution from drinking syrupy sweet Zinfandel to appreciating complex reds from a specific region took about ten years.  And, I’m still learning.  I am no expert on any wine or wine related topic.  I really just know what I like and why I like it.  I plan on taking my future education in wine just as slowly has I have so far.  What’s the hurry?  Wine is meant to be enjoyed and savored, not studied and analyzed.  I doubt that I will ever research the rainfall of a specific region to determine if one vintage from a given year will be better than another.  Who has the time?  Wine is a happy hobby of mine, not an all-consuming passion. 

I suppose this should have been my first Wine on Wednesday post.  I would hope that no one would expect anything too serious from me, but just in case, now you know.  I probably won’t use the correct or accepted terms when talking about how a wine tastes and I know very little about distributors and specific wineries (unless they are local).  This is a fun topic for me and I will approach it that way.  So, there.   

Just to prove this point, take a gander at this little guy:

I love him!  He’s called “Wine Be Gone” and you can buy him at one of my favorite on-line stores, Uncommon Goods.  My birthday was in March, but I’ll still accept presents, just in case you were wondering.

What was your introduction to wine?  Have your tastes changed over the years?  Trying anything new or exciting?

wine on wednesdays

I tell ya, doing these weekly posts sure does make the week go by faster.  I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad.  It’s good if I’m entertaining you guys, I suppose!

Last week, I talked about shopping at Wine World Outlet and I shared some of my purchases.  One of the bottles was a Pinot Noir called Lasting Fancy.  It was displayed prominently in the store with a large sign declaring “Customer Favorite!”  It was only $9.99 so I snagged a bottle.  I’m a sucker for clever marketing.

Well, I opened the bottle this weekend and I have to say that Wine World Outlet Customers know their stuff.  This was darker and heavier than a lot of Pinot Noirs, so if you like the lighter stuff this one may not be for you.  I enjoy Merlot as much as Pinot, so this was right up my alley.  I would buy this one again.  And here is where I valiantly resist the urge to make some incredibly un-funny pun involving the wine’s name.  You’re welcome.

Okay, since that’s not nearly enough words to justify a full blog post, I’ll briefly mention one wine gadget that I highly recommend.  

A foil cutter.  You can spend as much money as you want on these babies, but I picked up a great one for around ten bucks (actually my husband got it for me – thanks, hon!).  Yes, you can remove the foil with the corkscrew or a knife or your teeth, but this little tool works so quickly and elegantly that there really isn’t much reason for not owning one.  So, if you would rather not look like an arthritic spider monkey when trying to open your wine, I highly suggest investing in a foil cutter.

wine on wednesdays

I believe I might have mentioned that I was recently on vacation.  Well, in case you missed it, I just got back from a few days visiting my mother in Destin, Florida.  There are a handful of places that I always plan on going to every time I am there.  Some are restaurants, some are stores and sometimes I don’t manage to get to them all.  However, for the past few years there has been one place that I always make a point to visit. 

This is Chan’s Wine World.  They have an amazing selection of great wine from all over the world, plus great wine accessories like openers, stoppers and aerators.  Also inside is a massive cheese shop and a restaurant.  To be fair, they also sell beer and liquor, but I haven’t really looked at those sections.  I assume they are as well stocked as the wine. 

As awesome as this store is, there is another little place that, in some ways, tops it.

From the makers of Chan’s Wine World, we bring you Wine World Outlet.  Yes, an outlet store for wine!  As with all outlet stores, the stock isn’t consistent, but you can get some outstanding deals.  I’ve only been there once without leaving with a mixed case of wine. 

This trip, I took the opportunity to stock up on wine that I hadn’t yet tried.  Trying new stuff is always fun, especially when you can buy said stuff at wholesale prices. 

Here’s some of my haul:

Can’t wait to dig in!

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As always, if you have a suggestion or question for Wine on Wednesdays, please email me at wineonweds at hotmail dot com.