Montana Jones

Montana n: A state of the northwest United States bordering on Canada. Admitted as the 41st state in 1889. The fourth largest state in the union, it includes vast prairies and numerous majestic mountain ranges.
Syn: Treasure State, Big Sky Country, Last Best Place.

Jones n: slang. An addiction or very deep craving.

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Wine List

I am a beer lover. In fact I went through a phase where I could have been called a beer snob. "Life is too short to drink cheap beer" was my motto. Fortunately I got over it and the new motto is "Life is too short to be a beer snob so drink the damn Budweiser."

A while back when the lady friend visited we shared a bottle of wine and I made a discovery. Wine can be pretty good. I have little experience with wine. You could call me wine ignorant. But I liked the bottle so I thought to try some more.

The wine selection at the store is even more intimidating than the beer selection and worse, most wines are more expensive than beer. I immediately made some ground rules for my new wine quest. I will not pay more for a bottle of wine than I am willing to pay for a six pack of beer. I will not buy wine in a box, bottles only. No oversized jugs either. And steer clear of the Mad Dog, no matter how attractive the price tag. This could be limiting. A bottle of wine can be a lot more expensive than even a high end beer. But hey, I'm not in it for snobbery, I just want to try some wines to find out what I like.

With that in mind I went forth into the wine selection and started picking. Mostly based on how attractive I found the label. So far I have tried:

Beringer White Zinfandel. Not too bad, went well with popcorn. Left a funny aftertaste, I don't think I would buy it again.

Black Swan Vineyards Chardonnay & Semillon. Pretty good stuff, went well with salami sandwiches and chips and salsa. Would have been nice if it were a touch dryer.

Turning Leaf Vineyards 2003 Reserve Merlot. My first thought upon pulling the cork was "Mmmm, smells nice." My second thought was "Eeew. Tastes nasty."

Yellow Tail Shiraz. Not bad. I can already tell I like the whites more than the reds, but I would buy this one again. I enjoyed it with calzones.

One discovery of note; my enjoyment of the wine has a direct relationship with the depth of the dimple in the bottom of the bottle. The deeper the dimple, the better the wine.

Comments:
If you liked the Yellow Tail Shiraz try the Penfold Koonunga Hills Shiraz Cabernet. Another Australian wine. It's a dark red but doesn't taste like licking an oak tree when you are done. Reasonably priced too! Good luck in your wine quest. Nothing beats a nice ice cold Beltian White though. Uhhhmmm....BEER :)
 
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