Happy Holidays from Red Wine Reminiscence!

I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas or any other celebration in which you partake. Thank you so much for reading my wine blog.

I'm taking the week off, but I will be back next week with more tales about my wine adventures. I have many more to add after the holiday.

I hope your holiday is filled with peace and joy and delicious wines.

Davenport Mandolin

A friend of mine took me on the 2011 Kaw Valley Farm Tour back in October. It was a gorgeous fall day, and I got to spend a lot of it outdoors while we explored farms and local groceries. And, amazingly, Davenport Orchards and Winery.

Believe it or not, there are vineyards and wineries in Kansas. I was a bit surprised by this information, myself. When I discovered that there was one just outside of town, I got pretty excited. I was just starting to get into my wine tastings when I was introduced to this tidbit.

Dozens of people were milling around when we arrived. We made our way inside and pushed through the crowd up to where they were giving out free samples. They let us sample five different wines, from their driest to their sweetest, and my favorite was dead center: the Mandolin.

This wine is made from sweet red grapes, and definitely is more of a dessert wine than one you'd have with a meal. It was even too sweet for me to drink while writing. It has a pretty robust flavor, and might be a good choice for those who don't normally like red wine.

After the tasting, we listened to a talk about how they process the grapes, and then went on a hay rack ride around the vineyard. It was so beautiful and peaceful out there. Our tour guide mentioned that they took volunteers to help pick grapes when they were ready, and that their last batch of the season would be ready the following week.

I was out there the next weekend to pick. It was a perfect morning for it. The weather could not have cooperated better. I tagged along with a couple and we chatted while we snipped plump bunches of shiny purple grapes and plopped them into huge tubs. I stayed long enough to prune two long rows. I was scraped and sticky and sunburned by the end, but it was a fabulous feeling of accomplishment. It's exciting to think that someday the grapes I picked that Saturday will be turned into wine.

Columbia Crest Grand Estates Amitage 2008

Finished up the Cotes Du Rhone last night during a pity party that took place with Luigi and her boyfriend over video chat. Before the pity party commenced, I shared a couple of glasses of Beaujolais Nouveau at a friend's house. It was good wine, but simple, and it made me realize how complex the Cotes Du Rhone was. Heavy. Dry. Not especially appropriate for a pity party, I've decided.

But that's not what this entry is about. This entry is about the lovely Amitage, a red blend from Columbia Valley, Columbia Crest Grand Estates. A bottle of 2008. This lovely red was smooth with a grapey aftertaste. Not too many of the dry wines I've tried have any grape flavor left, and this one was absolutely delicious because of it. I wonder if it was the blend or the age that gave it that flavor. I might have to do some research.

The cute liquor store guy who checked me out (at the register, kids) said it was his favorite wine of the month for November. In hindsight, I'm pretty sure he was flirting with me. I guess I was just too excited about my wine purchase to notice.

It proved to be a perfect wine for November, too. It helped me through my toughest National Novel Writing Month yet. On those nights I didn't think I could write another word, I'd hop in the region's chatroom with my glass of Amitage, and we'd laugh and joke and do word sprints. It was the cause of many typos that we affectionately referred to as the "Nano wine monkeys."

And when November drew to a close and I wrote the last word of my sixth winning Nanowrimo novel, I raised my last glass of Amitage to toast my success.

This is definitely one of my favorites so far.

Chateau Montfaucon Cotes du Rhône 2009

Last week was Thanksgiving: a day dedicated food, family, and fun (and football, grumble). My brother and I made pumpkin cookies with caramel frosting to bring to dinner at my Grandpa's that day, and they turned out amazing.

I also brought a bottle of wine, suggested by Cork & Barrel as a splendid compliment for a turkey dinner: the Chateau Montfaucon Cotes du Rhone 2009. This wine was a gorgeous blood red color, which was a nice surprise after all of the deep purples I've been drinking lately. It has a tart finish, pleasantly heavy on the tongue. And true to their word, it did offset the turkey perfectly. I was worried it might be too dry to stand on its own, but it went down smoothly even after the meal was over.

Unfortunately, I felt a little uncomfortable bringing it. I enjoyed it very much, as did Dad and his girlfriend, Diane, however it made me feel a bit like a lush. Nobody else drank any. I realized after the fact that it might have been in poor taste to bring it. My aunt, my Dad's sister (and Grandpa's daughter), was an alcoholic, and it was her disease that finally took her from us. It was a few years ago, but it's still a sensitive situation. I don't think I will make the same mistake again. It was insensitive of me. Wine will be reserved for gatherings outside of the extended family in the future, maybe when I host my own Thanksgiving dinner someday.

The other unfortunate occurrence was that I revealed my wine ignorance. My uncle asked about what grapes it had been made from, and I couldn't remember. I knew it came from a number of different grapes, so he said it was a blend. Well, yes, of course it is, but in my ignorance I tried to argue the fact. Thankfully I am taking it as a learning experience, and I plan on being better educated about the wine I bring to a gathering next time.

This bottle of wine has certainly been a learning experience, both in matters of wine and family.

Not all stories have a happy ending, and neither do wine stories, apparently.

Still a damn fine bottle of wine, though.

Treasure Hunter series

I just killed my second bottle of the Treasure Hunter wine series a few nights ago. I tried both the Pieces of Eight and the Tomcat. The impressive thing about these wines, apparently, is that it's really high quality wine, but at an outstanding low price. The wineries that produce it aren't the ones who sell it: this company essentially buys overstock and sells it for a lot cheaper. I'm not sure I quite understand the logic behind how that works, so if you want a better explanation, head to their website: Treasure Hunter Wines.

My story behind these bottles of wine is literally a story.

In August, I began writing a novel. I wrote through August, September, and into October. Each night as I prepared to write, I would pour myself half a glass of this adventurous wine and sip it as I wrote. Alcohol is absolutely a social lubricant, but this wine loosened my inhibitions just enough so that the words flowed more freely. A good friend of mine, a member of my writing group, tends to sip whiskey as he writes. We often exchanged Twitter messages, essentially toasting each other as we wrote.

You don't have to drink to be a writer, but I've found my drink of choice is definitely wine. There's rarely an evening of writing goes by without my wineglass filled with a beautiful dark red or purple liquid lately.

These two bottles of wine carried me through the months of writing this novel. The book finished around 107,000 words (a basic trade paperback of 300 pages is about 90,000 words, to give you an idea).

The Pieces of Eight was delightful. It had a bite, for sure, but it withstood the hour or so of my sipping while writing. The Tomcat was much more dry. I had to drink it a little faster because after sitting out for an hour it was difficult to drink. Those evenings were a little more silly.

I am working on my next book project this month, and Monday was my last night with the Tomcat. It helped me plot the trajectory of the rest of the novel that night.

My local liquor store has these beautiful wines for sale at amazing prices while supplies last. I hope to be able to afford to try another bottle or two before the wine drinkers in town whisk it all away.

Oh, one last little tidbit: I will admit to purchasing the first bottle of wine in this series based on the bottle's label. I know that just as you should never judge a book by its cover, you should never judge a bottle of wine by its label. But can you blame me?

Corbett Canyon White Zinfandel

My very first glass of wine was a pretty pink Corbett Canyon White Zinfandel from California.

Circa 1999

I was in high school. Senior year. My boyfriend at the time pilfered the bottle somehow so that we could have it for the night of our senior prom.

To be honest, I don't remember the glass consumed with him. My memory of this bottle of wine focuses on the next night, when my best friend and I finished the bottle.

I invited her over for a slumber party, and once the folks had gone to bed, we retrieved the bottle from its hiding place in my closet. We marveled at the curvature of the bottle and the blushing color of the liquid.

I couldn't tell you now what it tasted like (probably not great since this bottle, pretty as it was, didn't even come with a cork: it was a twist off). All I know was that it was sweet, sharp, bubbly, and intoxicating.  Our sleepovers always consisted of lots of giggling, but that night, the giggling took on a drunken timbre.

Luckily my parents couldn't tell the difference. Although Mom did ask what was so funny the next morning. I think I turned as pink as the wine.

It was a long time after that before I drank wine again, and even longer for me to develop an appreciation for it. And now I am attempting to develop an understanding of it.

Over the past year I have been researching and tasting different kinds of red wine. I started tracking them on Pinterest, but it seems that each bottle ends up with a story associated with it, so after some reminiscence, I decided to start this blog.

I still have that very first bottle of wine. I don't even think they make them like this anymore. I also still have my best friend, Luigi, and she will figure prominently in many of my wine stories.

My journey to become a wine connoisseur is about more than just my opinion of the wines I taste. It's a learning process, and with any journey, it comes fraught with stories. I am naturally a storyteller, and it turns out that wine is, too.

And so my wine reminiscence begins here. Who knows where it will eventually lead me. I have enjoyed a lot of wine since this bottle. I anticipate enjoying many more, and I hope to share my stories about each bottle here.