Ever met a wine snob?
Haven't we all?
I watched the movie "Sideways" with amusement as the characters stuck their noses deep into their glasses and waxed eloquently about the differing characteristics of various glasses of Pinot Noir they tasted. I was more amused at hearing the price of Pinot Noir went up considerably after the movie started getting street talk.
We all want to catch the next popular thing...
We're such rubes!
I like wine.
I like most any wine.
Like many of my generation I started drinking wine out of bottles marked "Annie Green Springs" or "Boone's Farm". I've had my fair share of "Mogen David Cream White Concord".
I think I've even had "Thunderbird" a time or two.
Buying these wines meant you had to walk the aisle past other wines...
Cabernets. Burgundys. Rhines. Rieslings. Even the Pinot Noirs.
Out of curiosity I bought a few. I found I like some of the dry wines...
My Mom even accused me of drinking vinegar.
When I first met Sara Jean she was still in "Boone's Farm" mode and would only drink the sweet wines. I hoped she would eventually graduate to drier wines so I could find one we could enjoy equally. I waited for years...
Didn't happen.
Christmas a year ago I was gonna be on duty for a week. SJ made arrangements to go visit her family in Chicago for the holidays. When she came home I found she had developed a taste for a wine that doesn't gag me...
The wine pictured above...
Almaden's "Mountain Rhine".
I don't want to say it's cheap. Let's say it's "reasonably priced".
But I know what I like and I know what she likes. So I buy it two 5-liter boxes at a time and we enjoy a glass or two together now and then. Few stores carry it, so I have to buy it at a Supermarket along the way when I'm on my way home from "BigTown".
I stopped just before Thanksgiving to stock up for the holidays...
The slot for the product was empty.
I've stopped several times since. The tag for the wine is still there with the price listed, but for over two months now there's been no Almaden Mountain Rhine to bring home for my family.
"Reasonably priced" begins to take on new meaning when you consider all the time/trouble/gasoline I'm spending taking the exit to find an empty wine slot where the wine I want to buy SHOULD be available.
I've suggested we should try another Rhine wine. She's being resistant. That's the way she is.
But she's no snob, and I bet if I buy another she may learn to like it.
I'll keep ya posted.
10 comments:
So, a BOX of wine? My daughter gave us one before Thanksgiving and insisted it was good. Yeah, sure. WOW! I had expected "Boone's Farm" but this stuff was really good. When I went to the State Controlled Liquor Store I looked for more and was surprised at the variety. Clerk said what formally was used for an end of aisle display box wine now takes up two rows. Quality and convenience. Good Stuff!
Sideways is a great movie. I have the DVD, I like wine, but my taste is more towards the sweet wines of sparkling wines. Dry wines are like guacamole to me. I keep trying it but I can't make myself like it. French Lick Cawtaba is about my favorite. Good thing it's pretty cheap.
One of the great things about bagged wine (boxed wine) is that there's no exposure to oxygen, and therefore it stays good for weeks after first opened. I've found a pinot noir I really like, but the bottle is only good for two days before it devolves into good for cooking. I like keeping a box of white in the fridge for cooking from all month long.
Boy, GB, did you hit it outta the ballpark with this one. YES, I do know some wine SNOBS who slosh it around in the glass, hold it up to light, sniff it, pour it back, let the wine breathe, blah blah blah.
Hey, how about you DRINK the damned stuff.
I don't mind Vella White Zinfandel because I actually DRINK it.
Hot a huge fan of wine but I occasionally hit it.
BZ
Hehehe- been drinking box wine for years, I've actually had some of that Rhine Wine... Come to think of it, I haven't seen it around here either. Hmmm, now I gotta go check tomorrow.
I work with a wine slob, he spends more on a BOTTLE of wine than I do on a good bottle of Scotch!
Now, if you're talking VODKA, then you're talking Grey Goose or Ketel One or Stolichnaya or Absolut.
Life is Too Short for cheap vodka.
Drink too much wodka and you womit.
BZ
To all-
You also like what you like. My point is, snobs can drink what they want with no rolling of the eyes from me. If I decide I'd like another bottle of "Strawberry Hill" I'm gonna enjoy my beverage in spite of him/her if necessary.
The collapsing bag that "Wing and Whim" mentioned is the secret to these wines. The quality remains unchanged because as the bag collapses around the wine no O2 touches it to affect its chemistry.
Navy, I have a bottle of Glenfiddich put away in a special place. Come visit and I'll share.
BZ, I like my wodka mixed with Orange or Tomato juice, so the crap stuff will do me fine. But I have watched vodka experts do taste tests and I know there is a discernible difference to those who know the good stuff.
But that ain't me.
If I wasn't clear, cooking with bagged wine is far more fun than cooking with turned bottled wine, because it's as it should be. Glass for the cook, glass for the dish, glass with dinner...
Will do GB :-)
Late 70's my employer leased a vacant wine bottling plant along side Boeing Field. The winery moved to Woodenville, WA and changed their name from Pomereli to St. Michael. One of their employees said the only thing that changed was the label and price. Same wine, but targeted to the newly rich unstead of the Alaska wino market.
I drink nothing but box wine - can't tell any difference but,hey, what do you expect from a hick cowboy?
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