"first thoughts on wine"

Hi babes! I wanted to cover two things in this post: Wine tasting at Eric's house, and an excerpt from the amazing Kinsley Amis.

From Amis (from "Everyday Drinking"):

"Before I get to a more positive approach [to wine], let me describe, in careful stages, not what you should do when serving wine to your guests, but what you nearly always do (if you are anything like me):

1) Realize that They will be arriving in less than an hour and you have done damn-all about it

2) Realize, on your way to the cellar or wherever you keep the stuff, that the red wine to go with the roast beef will be nowhere near room temperature if left to warm unassisted

3) Realize, on reaching the stuff, that it has not had time to settle after being delivered, and that you should have realized six weeks ago--or if you wanted to give Them a treat, ten years--ago exactly what wine you were going to need tonight

4) Decide that They can bloody well Take what They are given , grab some bottles and take them to the kitchen

5) Look for the corkscrew

6) Having (we will assume) found the corkscrew, unscrew the cork that someone has left screwed on [to the end of the corkscrew] and open the bottles

7) Decide that, while any fool can tell when a wine is cold, and nearly any fool knows nowadays that a red wine is not supposed to be cold, hardly anybody knows a decent glass of it from a bad one and put the bottles in a saucepan of warm water

8) Spend parts of the next hour and a half wondering whether old Shagbag [person who fancies himself a wine expert], who is reputed to know one wine from another, will denounce you for boiling out whatever quality tonight's stuff might have had, or will suffer in silence. Also wonder whether the others will think that 1971 [book published in 1973] is a rather insultingly recent year for Medoc , whether to get up another bottle on the off chance that They can force force down what you have "prepared" for the table, whether to boil that too or bank on Their being too drunk to notice or too polite to mention its coldness and kindred questions."

HAR!!

On a different note, we tasted two wines at Eric's house yesterday: Kris Pinot Grigio, which is under consideration for a reasonable alternative to the wildly popular "Santa Margarita" Pinot Grigio, and a Taval Rose.

The Kris was fruity without being overwhelming, crisp, light, balanced, and had a medium body and finish. It was, in all of our minds, a front runner for people looking for something comparable to Santa Margarita, with a better value, as Santa is about 40 in the restraunts, and this is about 10, retail.

The Rose was a revelation. Pinch hitter for the store Kevin (?- he's new! and quiet!) liked it so much he wanted to grab a bottle on his way home, I who have hated Rose since an incident a couple years ago with Thirsty Lizard, was won over, and Patrick and Eric loved it too. Eric wants to promote and educate on Roses, as they are the perfect summer wine- goes with anything and is refreshing to boot. Delicate in some forms, zippy and full in others (this Rose was a blend of Zin and Grenache, among others, giving it a "volcanic" taste and a very pleasant dry finish), it is considered by many critics to be their second choice "desert island" wine (first being Champagne). It rings in at about 15 for the bottle, a score for those of you looking for a special dinner or date wine.

Enjoy!