Wine For Your 20s

Wine Review #2 for The Penguin

Great news! Silver Spring's best neighborhood blog, The Silver Spring Penguin, has posted another one of my wine reviews! This time I tackle the issue of boxed wine and give positive reviews for Pinot Evil, a light French red that goes with anything---even pizza. Yes, you can---and should---drink wine with pizza. If pizza is the best, then wine + pizza = enlightenment.

Special thanks to Jennifer and the great folks at The Penguin!

The Boyfriend's Love Notes

Hope you had an enjoyable three-day weekend to celebrate Independence Day. As one of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, wisely said, "Wine is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

(Well, turns out ol' Ben may not have ever said that at all, but who cares? It's a great quote.)

Anyway, I am VERY excited this morning---the ever-romantic and surprising Boyfriend left a note for me taped to my alarm clock, which read:

Unfortunately, I could only find three other notes: "Wear or bring clothes you'd want to go out in!"; "The diet starts TOMORROW!"; and "Have a good day at work! More info soon." I tore up the entire apartment looking for that last clue, too.

It's got to mean dinner at a great restaurant, but which one? Oh, please please PLEASE let it be Citronelle. He's got $660 to blow, doesn't he? (And that doesn't include tax and tip.)

Okay, okay, that's a little crazy. Especially since that today is just an ordinary day ... no anniversary that I can think of. My birthday is over a month away.

All I know is that the evening better involve a great bottle of wine. With the sweetest boyfriend in the world by my side, what more could a girl ask for?

Christopher Hitchens on Wine

Looks like political commentator Christopher Hitchens has a lot to say, and this time it doesn't involve religion or the Iraq war.

Now he's taking up arms against DC-area waiters and waitresses who pour wine at inappropriate times:

What he did instead was to interrupt the feast of reason and flow of soul that was our chat, lean across me, pick up the bottle of wine that was in the middle of the table, and pour it into everyone's glass. And what I want to know is this: How did such a barbaric custom get itself established, and why on earth do we put up with it?

The vile practice of butting in and pouring wine without being asked is the very height of the second kind of bad manners. Not only is it a breathtaking act of rudeness in itself, but it conveys a none-too-subtle and mercenary message: Hurry up and order another bottle. Indeed, so dulled have we become to the shame and disgrace of all this that I have actually seen waiters, having broken into the private conversation and emptied the flagon, ask insolently whether they should now bring another one. Again, imagine this same tactic being applied to the food.

I have to agree. I've been at a restaurant where I've taken a mere sip of my full wine glass, only to have the waitstaff, just seconds later, pour in another ounce or two. I feel rushed---then pressured---to buy another bottle as it sits empty on the table. And I haven't even finished my appetizer!

Anyone experience this annoyance?

Robert Mondavi Dies at 94

Having been out of town on a camping trip this past weekend sans iPhone made me miss a lot of important events, like the death of wine legend Robert Mondavi last Friday.

The New York Times comments:

Robert Mondavi, the vintner who built his career and helped an iconic Northern California industry blossom by insisting that Napa Valley wines can compete with the best in the world, died in the valley Friday. He was 94.

Mondavi died peacefully at his home in Yountville, Robert Mondavi Winery spokeswoman Mia Malm said.

''It is hard to imagine anyone having more of a lasting impact on California's $20 billion-a-year wine industry than Robert Mondavi,'' Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. Mondavi, said the governor, was ''a tireless entrepreneur who transformed how the world felt about California wine, and an unforgettable personality to everyone who knew him.''

So stop by at your local store this week, pick up a bottle of Mondavi (especially a Fume Blanc, made first by his winery in 1968), and raise a glass to the person credited with revolutionizing the wine industry in California and putting Napa Valley on the map.