wine things where you drink wine.

Some people need to have everything. I don't know if by nature I am socialist, communist, or merely unburdened by a rigidly defined sense of property; all I know is if I have two of something, and I only need one, there's no real reason for me to have the other one, especially if I think someone else might better benefit from it.

So I've taken to Wino Weekends where most weekends I'll uncork something donated to the cause by the deeply generous nature of this place that is The Cave. Also, I've gotten very behind in posting about these wines, so here's all of them so far, in order.

I drank this so long ago, I forget. Pretty much all the serious wine drinkers keep tasting notes. Now I know why. I do, however, recall that it was markedly good, and that I really liked it. Like if it were between this and most wine, I'd go with this one.








I dig the diversity of my winos. Here's the story of BV Vineyards. Georges de Latour buys the place in Napa in 1900, hires some french guy along the way who improves the quality and in the 'forties it is served at all the White House functions. It wins some awards, yadda-yadda-yadda, and in 1969 is acquired by the conglomerate that also acquires, among other things, Grey Poupon Mustard, Kentucky Fried Chicken, A-1 Steak Sauce, and (sigh) Guinness. They're acquired by RJ Reynolds in 1982 who sells it off to Grand Metropolitan in 1986. After another merge, the vineyard is now owned by a group called Diago, the world's largest producer of spirits. Various wines represent about 6% of their net sales. That's how that tastes.


Exactly the opposite, from Abbazia di Novacella in northern Italy (abutting the Austrian border) comes this stuff. Check out their website! It's a real Abbey. With nuns! With a pub on the premises! Check out the store section! This place is awesome! Even I would be a nun there! Bonus: the wine was pretty awesome, too.







That's wine on the left, and not turds but prunes on the right. There was the possibility that this wine might have been past its prime, and I will tell you it was only a little thin but otherwise delicious. But here's the thing. When I drank a glass of it it tasted like wine. So far so good. But when I had a glass with dinner - like chicken, lots of spicy things, it tasted exactly like prunes, so much so I had to go out and buy prunes to be sure, and it was exactly like prunes. How does this happen? Why? Beats me. But I will say, some wine is better by itself and other wine comes alive with food. No idea what the system is for determining this.

Which brings us, finally, to this past weekend. A lot of people on Cellar Tracker were referring to its cherry things, and I have to say, YES - towards the back of the tongue - there it was. A blatantly delicious wine. Put it against the same spicy chicken, but alas, no prunes even vaguely; a lessening of the fruity notes with an increase of the mineral things. Again, beats me.

Wino Weekends, sponsored by The Cave, enjoyed by The Cave, or, were I the nun I might have been: generosity bestowed on all by the generosity of all.