Determined Wednesday Wine

After a rough day at work today, I was so happy to get home. We'd had dinner plans, but they were canceled due to a nasty cold caught by our friend. It was for the best since she wouldn't have been able to enjoy her wine, & now we have something to look forward to once she recovers. It also freed up a little time for some basic grooming - Doug's hair was getting "long" & I needed an eyebrow wax so badly that I was beginning to look like Chewbacca. Eeek.

While it was nice to be able to get these things out of the way, we had our minds set on enjoying some vino. The weather's been warm, & we were in the mood for something light & refreshing. Yeah, like a rose'. Or maybe a Sauvignon Blanc. Mmmmm...

Small problem - while we certainly have a decent selection, we haven't done a very good job of stocking warm weather wines. When we go to tastings, we're drawn to the reds. If we buy a white or a rose', we drink it within a few days, & that leaves us in the very position that we found ourselves in tonight.

Note to self: Knock that off!

Ah, someone like me is a wine store owner's dream. It just so happens that there is a small wine store nearby, one that we don't frequent but small enough that we are recognized, so I decided to stop by on my way home from being de-Chewied. (Heh, that's funny.)

The young man that owns the place was thrilled to see me, even though I'm pretty tough on the guy - in a nice way - whenever we're there. He followed me while I performed a quick scan of his inventory, making small talk. After telling me that he is - & I quote - "struggling & desperate for your business", & that he'd been wondering when we were going to stop in again, he offered me a sample of a rather nice South African Sauvignon Blanc. Perhaps to prevent me from choking on the rather poorly executed guilt trip he was trying to shove down my throat. I glanced behind him & noticed that he had taken one of my suggestions from long ago, which was to stock some decent rose' in the cooler. Good boy! He had one of our favorites, the Crios Rose' of Malbec, chilled & ready to go. Really good boy!

Not so fast... the lad saw what I was looking at & immediately pointed me to another rose' - Coto Hayas Rosado 2006 (a grenache-tempranillo blend). Never heard of it, but hey, I'm open-minded. And wow - this Spanish rose' was actually $3 cheaper. Now, I'm not extremely savvy in business, but even I know better than to downsell to someone with whom I'm not all that familiar. (Certain wine stores in the area know that they can do this with us because we usually pick something else up as well. This lad doesn't know us that well.) Dumbass...I bought it just on principle.

I also bought the Sauvignon Blanc, but what this guy didn't know was that I was already buying it. For a guy that's so desperate for our business, he should thank his lucky stars that I didn't take his cheaper bottle & run.

Ok, I know what you're thinking - Claire, your story is funny, but tell us about the wine!

For $8, I can't really complain. I liked the color a lot - it was a very deep pink, reminiscent of last year's vintage of Turkey Flat's rose'. As nice as that is, I can only look at the color, so let's move on already. I had to give my glass a hearty swirling in order to pick up any nose at all, but once it was detected, it was faint but nice. On the palate? Medium-bodied with strawberry flavors, along with just a tiny hint of creaminess. Decent finish. Overall, not too shabby. Would I buy it again? Sure, if the wine store I bought it from was out of Crios rose' in the cooler.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitching about the wine. It's decent enough, & at that price, more than acceptable to serve at your next summer soiree'. Unfortunately, I thought the story leading up to the purchase was far more interesting......

In the end, we won. We saved a few bucks, & got what we were craving. Yay, us!