Wednesday, November 16, 2011

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...

9 comments:

New Hampshire Wineman said...

Claire, when I laugh reading a post (I'm by myself too), you KNOW the writing is good!
I must admit, I "Fear" a cold. The thought of not being able to pursue my new-found hobby could drive me to drink.

TuscanVines said...

Claire,

Allergies, like head colds, also benefit from Grappa!

Have a good Thanksgiving.

Danny said...

Hey Claire,
Bananna is not uncommon in extremely ripe Chardonnay, and if it is overly dominating it probably has to do with the fact that the grapes were probably crushed a bit late, and then subjected to a fermentation that got way too warm which brings out the tropical fruit flavors while sacrificing the leaner flavors that are retained when the fermentation temperature is cooler. Anyway I don't think I would have liked it either......

New Hampshire Wineman said...

Good morning Claire! It's 5 o'clock AM on a Sat. (I do have to work)and I was trying to respond to your latest comments, thank you for the wine class, but for some reason I'm having the hardest time commenting on my own blog.
Anyway, I began with "Red" only wines and have come to appreciate white wines as well, but I do find that a very pleasing Chardonnay is as difficult to find as a good Zinfandel (Maybe I'm just picky).
As for Carménère, outside of a blend I haven't tried one, but I have several waiting in the cellar for when a few of us can get together for a blind tasting.
Be well,
Dennis

New Hampshire Wineman said...

Claire, once again Google won't let me comment on my own blog, so I'll paste and post it here:
Claire said: "It (Justin Vineyard Isosceles” 2007) was starting to show its age, with notes of meat & leather" sounds interesting!
I've been made a fan ('07), though sometime ago I tried thier straight Cab. and wasn't completely satisfied considering the price, but this 2007 was a value at the $50 mark, and if the NHLS has a sale I'll be looking to grab another.
Claire, what do you think was behind TWO corked bottles?
Happy New Year, and enjoy every minute of your wine tasting.

New Hampshire Wineman said...

Sorry, your wine was the 2006 Justin.

New Hampshire Wineman said...

Claire, I see you're the web. Let us know how things went in CA. A blog post would be a lot of fun, but sorry if I'm meddling.

New Hampshire Wineman said...

"on" the web, not the web itself. . .

Somerset Wedding Gal said...

Refusing wine? What's up with that? I guess if you work around it all the time then it's fair!