Full Circle

The weather in St. Louis was unseasonably warm over the last few days, which caused my allergies to go haywire.  I know I'm not the only one.  After what must have been my 12th sneeze in a row last night, Doug asked me what I wanted to drink.  I knew he meant wine, & after a bit of consideration, I declined.

Yes, you read that correctly.  I said "no" to wine.

I figured it would be a waste of a decent bottle if we opened one.  Even after an overdose of Sinex, my senses of smell & taste were questionable.  Since Doug wasn't suffering from anything other than a long day, he still wanted wine.  Fair enough.

It was during our search for a bottle that Doug A) wanted to drink & B) that I really didn't care about (remember, he calls me the wine warden for a reason), I came to a sudden & somewhat surprising realization...

Me: "Holy shit!  We don't have a single bottle of Merlot!"
Doug:  "That's weird.  We like Merlot."
Me:  "Yes, we do! How in the hell did that happen?"

Doug had no answer other than the problem is easy to fix, & then he decided on a bottle of Argentinian Chardonnay that my boss sent me home with one day.  Just one of the perks of my job. ( Just a warning - I'm about to go slightly off-topic.  Big shock.)  Anyway, he opened it up & I was actually able to smell & taste it....but only because it smelled exactly like banana taffy.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that's a good thing in a Chardonnay.  Waaaay too much banana. Besides that, the finish was really weird.  Doug disagreed, so he poured himself a glass.

About 15 minutes later, after I'd poured myself a Diet Coke & lime flavored rum (not bad!), Doug declared that I was right, the finish sucked & that it's a good thing that my company didn't pick up that line.  I'm not right very often, but man....I really like it when I am.

Enough of my digression.  Back to Merlot.

I woke up this morning & found myself thinking about our lack of Merlot.  I just get like that sometimes.  Luckily for me, I happen to work in a warehouse full of wine, so guess what I brought home?  You guessed it - a bottle of Merlot.

My sinuses are much better tonight, so yay! We're drinking wine.  I guess we both had Merlot on the brain because that's exactly what we're drinking right now.  And it's lovely.  And we're happy.

And now we have no more Merlot.

If that's not enough, after reading another blog, I've realized we also don't have any Petite Sirah.

Here we go again...

Decisions, decisions...

As is the case almost any time we open up a bottle of wine, there's always the question "Which one? What are you in the mood for?"  Doug has labeled me the "wine warden" - & he's right - because I don't always want to open up a special bottle on, oh, a Wednesday night. 

Not that I'm hating on Wednesdays, mind you, but I'm sure you get my drift.

It's gotten to the point in our house that we have a bit of a challenge.  We have quite a bit of wine - if I were to guess how much, I'd say about 80-90 bottles.  Not a tremendous amount, but for 2 people, I'd say that's a decent amount.  The challenge is that we have a lot of really great bottles, some that would be good for 3rd or 4th (or 5th, 6th...) bottles when we have company, & very few bottles that are perfect for a regular Wednesday night.  You know, those go-to under $20 bottles that you really like, can get plenty of anytime, & won't be tragic if the bottle isn't finished at the end of the night. (This rarely happens.)  I know, I know...quite a predicament, & we're going to work on that.

We also have quite a few bottles that have been signed by the winemaker, & I'm sort of a geek with them.  I tend to hang on to them like an 8-year old boy hangs on to a baseball card.  Really.  Which leads us to tonight...

A few months ago, we went to this absolutely fantastic blind tasting "class" with Siduri/Novy winemaker Adam Lee at the St. Louis Wine Market.  I loved every second of this thing (if you don't count the woman that doused herself in perfume & insisted on flitting about the entire room), & perhaps one day I'll get around to writing about it before I forget it.  But not tonight.  Anyway, we bought a bottle of wine that night - the very rare - as in only 94 cases made - 2009 Novy Family Winery Zinfandel - Carlisle Vineyard from the Russian River Valley in Sonoma -  & had Adam sign it...which means that Doug had to guilt me into opening it with "What, he signed it, so now we'll never, ever drink this wine?"

Point taken.  Bottle opened.

Let me summarize by saying this: WOW.  But I'll go into a little more detail.

Did you know that there's a full 1% leeway on alcohol content? Yep, it's true.  So, the label says this Zin clocks in at 15.3%, which is pretty damn high.  Let's not even think about the possibility that it could be 16.3...not that I'm scared.  From the initial nose on this wine, I'd say that it's at least 15.3 - it was pretty hot at first.  But as it usually does with a good bottle of wine, this blows off & you get it.  In this case, the alcohol gave way to very lovely baking spice-filled aromas. 

On the palate, this wine screams luscious dark fruit with cinnamon, & an almost chocolate-like finish. The alcohol, while high, is very well-integrated, in my opinion.  A great Zin, but not necessarily an in-your-face one.  I'd venture to say that it's somewhat restrained.  Just somewhat.  I'm just really digging this wine.  And it just keeps getting better as time goes on.  This is a fairly young wine, & while I would've loved to have held on to it for a bit longer (say, 2-3 years),  I'm glad I'm drinking it now. 

Well, except that I can't run out & get another bottle.  They're probably all sold.  I could get really bummed out about that, but why?  I still have some left in the bottle, & it's not yet bedtime.

Substance is a big deal....

....Wines of Substance, that is.

Doug performed a wedding this weekend for some friends of ours, & they gave us a wonderful thank you gift.  Not only did they give us a gift card to Veritas (if you recall, one of our favorite haunts), but they also had the owner pick out a bottle of wine for us. 

I'm happy to report that he knows us quite well.

He chose the 2009 Wines of Substance Cabernet Franc from Washington.  You see, he knows.

Well-made Cab Franc, plainly stated, rocks.  It's one of my favorite varietals.  This surprised the hell out of a wine dude from Bordeaux that we had brunch with this past Sunday.  That statement alone makes me so incredibly cool.  All of my coolness aside...while Cab Franc is one of the 5 red Bordeaux varietals, it's mostly used for blending in that region.  Really, it's only a major player on its own in the Loire Valley, where the wine is called Chinon after one of the town the vines are grown in. 

Ah, but that's just France.

Doug & I decided to open the Wines of Substance tonight, & WOW.   The nose was heavenly & quite complex.  I picked up some herbal notes like mint - actually, more like a mint tea - & dried cherries.  Maybe some rosemary & some other green stuff.  Not too much, but just enough.  Once I tasted it, I got some raspberry, plum & something like cherry cough drops...the really good ones.  Killer finish - if I timed it, I think it would be well over 30 seconds, but I'm not that big of a dork. I could go on & on, but I'll spare you.  There's no need to get super-technical.  One, I really can't get super technical; two, that gets boring; & three, I want to focus on one of my new favorite bottles.

Cheers!

Wow, I almost forgot I have this thing!

Crazy, huh?

Well, it was an almost. Inspiration to write pops up every so often, but unfortunately, the time &/or energy didn't follow.  You know how it is.  My blog silence doesn't mean anything more than that. 

Oh, & yes - I still drink wine.  Quite a bit of it. 

I have some things that I want to write about, but guess what?  I'm short on time.  Perhaps if I hadn't stayed up until 2:00 a.m. drinking wine with our friends...but whatever. 

What can you expect of me in the future?  Well, not much, really.  I'll write when I want about what I want.  I'm not going to write about every wine I drink - now, there's an exhausting concept - & as always, I won't just write about wine.  After all, my life is pretty entertaining. 

So, with that, I hope to not be such a stranger.

Doug & Claire's Big Ass Missouri Wine Dump

Yeah, yeah...It's been a long time.  So much time has passed that my pal Kyle over at Sippin' St. Louis called me out on it this past Saturday.  Tonight, inspiration has struck the Uncorked household.

Doug & I have a lot of wine.  Well, we have a lot of wine for what little storage we have, & we had about 10 homeless bottles on top of the bar.  With our penchant for continually buying wine (especially now with my place of employment), this was going to become a problem quickly.  So, I took a good look at one of our wine racks tonight, & saw 9 very dusty bottles of Missouri wine at the bottom.

We decided that it was time to toss it, but not before tasting each one.  We had vintages ranging from 2004 to 2007 in Chambourcin - from a Missouri winery that, in our opinion, makes the best wine in the state - & a Norton/Cynthiana or two from other wineries.  We were told that each of these bottles could handle at least 5 years in the cellar/rack.

They lied.

We opened bottle after bottle, giving each their fair shot.  One wine had turned orange.  One wine had such a sour finish to it that I feared we might have to use Comet to get the taste out of our mouths.  Luckily, we didn't have to resort to such drastic measures - the next wine's lack of anything killed it.  Not one single wine was acceptable, not even the 2007.  Not good, Missouri - not good.

We were now on a mission. Once we'd opened, tasted, & quickly dumped every bottle from Missouri, we grabbed the only one from Illinois.  Again, we were told that this Cynthiana could easily handle 10 or more years. 

I believe you know the outcome.  Poor Truvy was so confused.

We opened up our lone bottle from North Carolina. 

Fuck.

At this point, we just wanted some wine.  We were disheartened yet amused.  I couldn't bring myself to open up our wine from Texas, although after tonight, I don't have high hopes.  We're going to have to open those soon.

So, what are we drinking right now?  A 2005 Hahn Syrah.  We had faith, & we were not disappointed. 

Either that, or our palates were just too roached to know any differently.  Ugh.  I can't bear to think of that possibility.

And she's back...

Whoa, it's been forever!!! Sorry, folks.

So, here's a brief rundown of what's been going on.

At the end of July, I found out that I was losing my job at the end of August...you know, the one I had just been promoted to last December, & after 9 years with the same employer.   Talk about a blow.  And it had nothing to do with anything I did or didn't do - instead, it was some hotshot that thought he was bulletproof.  Other than to say that the U.S. Congress didn't agree, that's all I'm going to say about that.

Some of you may be asking why you didn't know my situation.  Well, that's because I didn't want you to know.  Don't take it personally, I just didn't want more of the questions from people that already knew - like "Oh my god!  What are you going to do?", & "Have you thought about starting your own dogwalking/sitting business?".  I could go on, but I won't.  People, while they may mean well, can be really, really stupid.  (In other words, think before you say anything to friends that have lost their job.)

So, 5 months of unemployment... I can't tell you how many times I've thought that would be close to Heaven.  Boy, was I wrong.  Day after day, hanging out in the house.  I mean, all of my friends worked, & although we were ok financially, I couldn't exactly justify going to lunch with them several times a week.  Oh, I had grand plans for my time off - I was going to get in shape, volunteer, organize this mess of a house I live in, etc.  Well, it turns out that it would take at least 2 people to get even a start on the organizing, the weather turned really crappy, & Truvy was a terrible brat that needed to be worn out so that Doug could get to sleep at night.  Staying home was just easier, but the nasty funk that settled in was pretty tough to deal with.  I did the best I could to keep my chin up, but I know it seeped out from time to time.  Yuck.  So not my style.

Then, Mattie's cancer returned, in her back leg again.  Ugh.  Obviously, at 15 & 1/2, she's just too old to aggressively battle it, so we turned to medicine.  It worked, for the most part, but the Prednisone made her very, very sick, & I really thought we were going to lose her if we didn't get her off of it pronto.  So, we did, & after a while, she got better.  It took a lot of TLC & McDonald's cheeseburgers to get her strength back, but I'm happy to report that the tumor has not grown & Mattie is doing well. 

Ok, let's get to the good stuff.

We all know that the economy is in the toilet, & unemployment is the new epidemic in this country.  I applied all over the place, & didn't get a single call from anyone.  I might as well have taken my resume', folded it into a paper airplane, & flown it into the Grand Canyon... my chances of getting called would've been the same.  So, I saw this part-time job on Craigslist with next to no information other than the hours & general location & figured why not?  A few weeks went by, & I had a voicemail.  I got an interview, walked in, & got the job the very next day.

Yeah, yeah, that's great.  But here's the kicker....

Ladies & gentlemen, I am now working as the office manager for ....

Wait for it.....

A WINE DISTRIBUTOR!!!!!!!!!

The ONLY call I got in 5 months, & it was this!  I know, crazy, right?  Me, working in the wine business.  And my job rocks.  So much.  I couldn't have ordered nicer people to work for & with, & of course, the part-time hours &, oh yeah, the 20% off of wholesale discount of all the wine & liquor we carry doesn't hurt, either!   Oh, & did I mention that Mattie can come to work with me?  She can!  I can bring my dog to work!  I can bring any of them, but I know my time is running short with my girl.  I want to spend as much time as I can with her, & she loves being at the office.  The warehouse seems to be her favorite place (she takes after me, she wants to be around a lot of wine). 

So, there you have it.  My life is a great thing again, & here's hoping that yours is, too!

Revisiting a Christmas Past: O Holy Crap

Some people wonder why Doug & I have started our tradition of leaving town for Christmas.  Our standard answer is "If you knew our family, you'd understand!", & it's so true.  Now, we love our family, of course, but seriously - just seriously.  We'd talked about bailing on Christmas for several years, but the following story (originally written 12/26/06) sealed the deal.  So, for the next few minutes, kick back & be grateful...

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I realize that I may be in the minority here, but boy, am I glad Christmas is over. Anyone who has read this blog has probably picked up that both sides of our family are a bit off, & this year only added to the proof. In the interest of keeping this as short & as easy-to-read as possible, I'm going to break it down. So, without further adieu, here are the "highlights" of our Christmas...

CHRISTMAS EVE

* For reasons that we don't know (it's just less painful to not ask), my (divorced) parents were 30 minutes late. We weren't upset about it, but we knew that at least my dad would be. Yay, let the good times roll...

* Rather than bring my mom's very cute but very rambunctious dog Poppy in first in order to secure her in the kitchen with the other dogs (both Poppy & Charles are runners) & then unload the car, both of my parents had their arms full of presents while my dad had the dog on a leash. This is bad because neither of them are too steady on their feet, & it also made the situation much more hectic than it needed to be. As a result of this chaos, my dad became very frustrated & (unintentionally & briefly) hung poor Poppy. I ended up yelling at my dad, which always gives a great feeling.

* During breakfast, my dad almost made my mom cry by asking her to tell us news of her brother (who has cancer & is having a difficult time). The news wasn't horrible, but it shook her up. Greeeaaat timing there, Pops. (My mom later cried in the driveway.)

* Also during breakfast, my dad, as usual, talked over everyone else & asked the same questions over & over again. I began to think of spiking my coffee.

* My mom had a hard time opening up one of her gifts. Always ready to assist, my dad threw an open pocket knife at her. Yes, I did say the words "open" & "knife". Thankfully, it landed on the floor & not in my mom's chest - right between 2 dogs & Doug's bare feet. Whew, disaster averted....

* Apparently, my mom doesn't know me. She bought me this sickeningly cute sweatshirt with an appliqued puppy on it that said something like "Dogs aren't our whole lives, but they make our lives whole". Awwww...obviously, I agree, except I don't do cute, & I definitely don't do appliques. Oh, & she has one, too. Mine's way too big, but I'll keep it because I hate returning gifts. It can be my housework sweatshirt or something. Oh well, I really don't care about the gift, it's the thought that counts...this was really just amusing.

* After my parents left (!!!), Doug & I headed to Sugar Creek Winery to meet our friends Lisa & Jason. We were having a great time until an old man in the next room collapsed at the table. The family started to freak out - understandably so - & Lisa ran over to him because they said he wasn't breathing & she knows CPR. Yay, Lisa! When she got the man on the floor, she told the family that he was indeed breathing. It turns out that the old man rarely drinks & he passed out as a result of drinking too much. At 84, I guess that can happen pretty easily! The ambulance came & took him to the hospital. The family went with him, & we were alone in the winery. After we recovered from that incident, we ended up having a lot of fun & stayed past closing (we know the owners & a few of the employees). After that, Doug & I went home, had some drinks, & then went to bed. What a bizarre day.

CHRISTMAS DAY

* Doug & I spent a much-needed relaxing morning at home. Since we were headed to Doug's sister's house way up in "Da Hood", we decided to spike some eggnog at around 10:30. We left at noon & stopped for beer along the way. I called my mom to wish her a Merry Christmas. She was hanging out with my dad, who was playing with Poppy. (Good thing Poppy forgives quickly!) A few minutes later, she said "I don't know if your dad's coming or going", to which I replied "What else is new?" - turns out, he went to the car to get something, & then got in the car & left. I assumed he was running to QuikTrip or something & then got off the phone. I then called Monica to talk to her about that evening's plans.

*My phone rang when we were about 20 minutes from my sister-in-law's house, & it was my mom. She was crying. She said that a man called to tell her that my dad had been in an accident not far from the house, & she was leaving right then to see what was going on. I told her to calm down before she left, that we didn't need 2 accidents. Thank goodness I can think rationally - I told her that since he gave someone her phone # (he doesn't carry a cell or an emergency card) that he wasn't dead & was most likely still conscious. That worked. She said she would call me back.

*As we were pulling up to my s-i-l's house, my mom called again. My dad crashed into a telephone pole, & no other cars were involved. I asked if he'd had a heart attack or a stroke, & she said that it didn't appear that way. My dad had some cuts on his face & a burn on his arm from the airbag & the paramedics were checking him out. His car was totaled. She told me she'd call me back.

* We walked into Misty's house to sheer mayhem. My nieces were shrieking with delight over our great-niece & great-nephew (both under a year old). They were making those stupid faces that people make at babies, & the babies started screaming. Well, duh! Why don't people think before they do that??? It usually scares the tar out of the baby. Anyway, we plowed in, frustrated, & headed to the kitchen to load up on chili cheese dip & beer. Babies at Christmas.  Again. Shit.

* A few minutes later, my mom calls back to let me know that my dad refused to go to the hospital to be checked out & was going back home with her. Fabulous. Apparently, his blood sugar dropped & that's what caused the whole episode. Tremendous. The good thing was that he seemed to be ok. I have talked to him several times since, & he's fine (so far), & had full coverage, so he'll be back on the road soon enough. (Those of you in The Lou, beware.)

* By this time, everyone had found out about the accident & the details of it. My mother-in-law then decided that my dad needed to go to the hospital, & that I needed to make him go. Well, that's like making the weather change & she knows it. I explained to her that my mom already tried that to no avail, & that I wouldn't do any better. She agreed, however, that didn't stop her from telling me several more times that he needed to go. Between that, the babies crying & puking, shrieking preteen girls, embattled nephews, & horrific grammar, Doug & I simultaneously agreed that it was time to go. And we did.

* We decided that neither of us were in the mood to go to Monica & Cory's house, so I called to let them know what had happened. Cory's parents were in town from Canada & are very "normal" & polite, & I couldn't guarantee that we wouldn't be dropping F-bombs left & right. Monica thought that sounded like fun, but we didn't want to offend her unsuspecting in-laws. We stopped off to rent movies & went home.

So there you have it, our little piece of Christmas Heaven. In retrospect, most of this was actually pretty damn funny - hence the writing of this blog - & the parts where people were in danger turned out fine. So people, laugh & appreciate the story for what it is. It could've been so much worse.

We told both families that we would not be participating in next year's Christmas, except for maybe a phone call from Mexico or a cruise ship or something. One side was ok, the other side wasn't. They'll get over it - we're DONE. In fact, I'm sending off an email to our travel agent right now.....

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And so started our tradition.  The first year, we went on a cruise out of Puerto Rico that hit St. Thomas/St. John, Dominica, Antigua, Barbados, & St. Lucia.  Our ears burned the whole time - Doug's side didn't believe us when we said we were going.  The next year, we went to Jamaica, & hey!  We drive to Memphis tomorrow & leave Saturday morning for Jamaica again.  We're so freakin' stoked. (Why Memphis, you ask?  Because St. Louis doesn't have direct flights at decent times, so we're driving to Memphis because they do.)  So, on Christmas, think of us, hanging out on the beach or at the swim-up bar, drinking Dirty Bananas & whatever else strikes our fancy...

Stop hating - it's the holidays!