So, this year, our 11th Valentine's Day together, we decided to keep with tradition. The second Thursday of the month (be it Valentine's Day or not) means only one thing to us. zOMG! THERE ARE TWO BOTTLES OF WINE IN DARIEN WITH OUR NAMES ON THEM!
We spent the evening with Tim and Maggie at Wine Styles tasting their six "sexiest" wines, chosen mostly for the kitsch of their names (see: Fourplay, a blend of four grapes). D picked up some sushi from the Japanese steakhouse next door and I brought some chocolate covered strawberries from Graham's as my Valentine gift for D. (D's gift for me? Assorted truffles from Graham's.)
Kitsch aside, I think that this was the best tasting ever. Normally, there are 2-3 wines from each tasting that we like enough to buy. Last night, we walked away with 7 bottles of wine (including our two club wines). Yikes!
First, was a wine we already knew we loved: Zonin's Primo Amore Juliet. We had already decided that this would be our go-to summer white. It's sweet and crisp and a little fizzy and a lot cheap! Anyone who comes to our pool this summer can expect to be offered a glass of this deliciousness.
But! We also got to try, for the first time, Juliet's partner Romeo. Romeo smells like the rose on the label and has all of Juliet's good qualities: a little bit of effervescence, a little bit of sweetness. I'm looking forward to trying this again to figure out where they differ. If I had to say from memory, I would say Juliet has pear notes and Romeo has berries. (Maybe I should read those PDFs I just linked to. They would probably tell me.)
Another wine we had never tried was Syrahtica. Get it: Syrah+tica like Ero+tica? Clever. And in the spirit of clever suggestiveness, check out the label. Now stand on your head. AHH! NAKED LADY! Sort of. Anyway, if you can get beyond the name and the label, this is a really good wine. At the front, it tastes like any other Syrah--fruity, big, a little chewy. Then, it sort of surprises you with a really smooth, spicy, dark finish.
Our last purchase was two bottles of Trentadue Chocolate Amore (one for us and one for my port-loving brother). It's an interesting merlot-based port-styled wine that tastes like raspberries and chocolate (a combination that one of us--the one who isn't me--can't resist).
The good news is that we reached 1000 points on our club membership and got $50 to spend in the store! The bad news is, that means that we've spent $1000 on wine in the last 7 months. Mom, stop worrying. I swear this is not that hard to do when we are trying to keep the Young family flush with vino. Most of that grand was spent on the case for Labor Day, the case for Thanksgiving, and the case for Christmas.
So that was our Valentine's. (I'm leaving out the part where we went home, watched a movie, and I fell asleep on the couch, making it truly just like any other Thursday.)
Posts
4 comments:
Don't worry Ashley. I'm good with it as long as it includes the family! It is great that you both have sampled the wine before it reaches our lips. Most of the time it is just guesswork for the rest of us when we purchase it. Seriously though, I think it is time that the Young helped defray the cost of holiday vino. What do you say, family?
Please, mama. D and I are hardly the only ones providing wine. Providing wine for the holidays/family gatherings is definitely a team sport (and there is no D or I in TEAM). Thanks for the offer, though!
Other family members did contribute wine at the holidays, it simply was not an entire case.
As for the Trentadue Chocolate Amore, Merci Beaucoup (how the French got their word for "thank you" from an amalgam of the phrase "mercifully beautiful chicken coup" is beyond me)!!!
Post a Comment