Totally sucked, right? My team lost the World Serious, I have a got a huge national holiday promotion that I'm installing by myself, and a lot of stuff was late with that, the Dems got their asses handed to them, Keef was suspended by Cabletown, the Sooners lost last night, etc, and Ardent whines, whinges, & wheedles on and on and on!
But Friday night just about made up for all of this crumminess. I bought two mini bottles of Prosecco on my way out the door Friday & drank them on the walk home. I blasted my iPod in to my head, listening to tracks like this and this. Some amazing PJ Harvey, Freddie King (that's the greatest drummer evah!, Al Jackson Jr, on that one), I'll Buy by the Replacements, & some Bon Scott AC/DC.
The whole time walking home, all my cares seemed to be put behind me. I felt so fucking happy to be alive!
I got home, Renee was so tired from work she was asleep on the couch. She had cracked open a bottle of Saddleback Viognier and had made dinner. She made some chicken & couscous which was so good. I heated that up, poured myself a glass of wine & settled in to watch An Education. Fantastic evening.
I want to talk about wine here for a second. First, the Saddleback Viognier. Now, to me, Viognier is supposed to be elegant, light, bordering on effervescent, off-dry, great with all types of food, fun, etc, ... Then why oh why is just about every frickin' California Viognier I taste heavy, viscous, practically sticky, hot, sweet, no good with food, pretty much a dessert wine, or at best a wine you might have one glass of before the meal?
The Saddleback Viognier was not Rhone-like per se but it was just about the best CA Viognier I've had. It wasn't hot but it was a little on the heavy side, the finish was long, cracking with acidity, it most certainly was off dry, went perfect w/ the lovely modest Mediterranean meal Renee had prepared and capped off a perfect evening at home. Heck, Saddleback still puts Nils Wenge's name on the front of their labels and he and his son have long been some of my favorite Napa winemakers so I should not have been surprised I guess. The fruit for this wine is from Napa so it ain't cheap ($22-$25) & I won't carry the wine at my store but I'd buy it again and it would make a nice gift, too.
Finally, still on wine, me and one of my reps were commiserating about the off dry hang up so many wine consumers have. It is annoying & oftentimes hypocritical. I went to the Family Winemakers Trade Tasting with one of my bosses just so she could see what those awful meat markets are like and she could taste a million different types of wine, learn about varieties, CA winemakers, you know the drill, anyhoo: she does not have that off dry hang up. She loves Chenin Blanc, Viognier, Moscato d'Asti, Alsace varieties. It was so refreshing to be with someone new to the wine world who had no preconceived notions about what was good wine and what was junk.
First of all, off dry wines are perfect with like nine million different types of food. Plus they're often lower in alcohol and make great apertifs or can function as a dessert wine in a pinch. They're great for picnics or outdoorsy types of things. Somehow the notion came about in CA that if it comes in a long bottle then it must be sweet, and therefore must be junk. Meanwhile, so many of these same sniffy wine aesthetes are throwing back blockbuster fruit-forward Chards (many of those containing up to three per cent residual sugar in them) & super-extracted 15 & 16 point Cabs & Zins. UGH!
Rant over!
I would like to thank everyone who made Friday night an oasis in Hell. I want to thank Renee for the fab dinner & opening that Saddleback. I want to thank PJ Harvey, The Replacements, Freddie King, Al Jackson Jr, and all the other musicians who make such fabulous music. I want to thank the folks who make those Prosecco splits (yummy!). I want to thank Carey Mulligan, Nick Hornby, Lone Scherfig, Lynn Barber for making one of my all-time favorite films. I want to thank Saddleback for their Napa Viognier. And I want to thank Deanna Grant for seeing (& tasting) wine w/ no snobbery, eager to learn.
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