wine spelunking, part ? (I've lost track): the small aside.

so far.

I misspoke a little teeny tiny bit, but I don't remember where, so let's just say it's wherever you think I'm about to contradict myself.

If you are on Facebook, begrudgingly or otherwise, there is a new page to 'like' called Storycellars. "Every Wine Has a Story."

Every wine does have a story, story is deeply entrenched in wine, and were I more organized in my brain I'd have presented this better. But I'm not so I didn't and now we must collectively suffer another go at it.

This was the contradiction - alluded to mostly in part three - that wine is enmeshed, drowning and stifled in stuffstuffandmorestuff and we just want to cut to the really good wine. And that's true. It's also true that much of that stuff is story. Lots and lots of story. But some stories are Remembrance of Things Past, and some stories can be told in a mere haiku; how much you want to know about the madeleine is entirely up to you.

Wine Spelunking isn't about bypassing story, it's about realizing that in wine there are many stories to be had; not all of them need to be as thick as Proust.

From the Red Wine Haiku Review:

476) Pricum Prieto Picudo 2007 (Spain)
My pants are too tight

And I have to run back home

Wearing fancy shoes

36)Rancho Zabaco Reserve Zinfandel (California) 2000
Do I drink this stuff
Or pour it over pancakes?
Deepest of purples

118)Condesa de Leganza Crianza 1999 (Spain)
Smoke a nice cigar
With a mouthful of cherries
You get the picture

There's an app for that.

Paul, who manages the apartments, has an iphone. iPhones have things called "apps." There are 306, 554 apps available. One of the apps Paul has is called Action Movie FX. It's free, and it's awesome! Paul has pretty much blown up everything in and around this building, including the building. Today he blew up The Cave.



(the countdown was my pithy contribution)

wine spelunking so far, and 2005 Kaesler GSM Stonehorse.

part 1.
part 2.
part 3.

Some weekends at The Cave are sponsored by wine. This weekend is sponsored by 2005 Kaesler GSM Stonehorse, a Barossa Valley wine from Australia. It fell open Friday, and after work I poured myself a glass. It's one of my favorite Cave rituals, to hang out here another forty minutes or so after work and kill a glass of wine, a confluence of many pleasants.

Friday night, this wine had three distinct phases - a little sweet on the front, a slightly boozy heaviness in the middle, and a spicy finish. Last night after work, all the edges disappeared, it had come together, the front, middle and end integrated into one crazy-pleasant bit of awesomeness. It was like drinking soft liquid velvet wrapped in warm silk.

I'll always remember that taste, that experience; there's nothing like it. A quick search shows this bottle was under $25.00.

Here are a few links to get you started.
1. Richard Jennings on Wine.
The gentleman who contributed the above wine also told me about this guys blog. Though RJ scares me a little with his creepily capable capacity, whether you want to know more about a type of wine or a specific region's offerings, to call this guy 'thorough' is an understatement. Every nook and cranny, no stone is left unturned. For our purposes, here are two specific posts of interest.
5 tips for maximum wine enjoyment - the first tip, especially.
How to begin navigating the world of wine. (*Intercepted by the Giants!*)

2. Bordeaux Undiscovered
Nick's - I'm sure he has a last name - was the first blog that drew me in. Though his area is Bordeaux, he (pass interference!) writes the history, the story and the lore of wine. Also, because Bordeaux and China are currently so entwined, his style also lends a very pleasant way to keep up on the story of business. (O'Welker!) (O' Manningham!)
The 1757 Bordeaux-Dublin Letters
Phantoms of the Chateau. (2-minute warning)

(internet, you're suddenly buffering? Are you serious?)

3. The Terroirist.
This blog has gone a long way in helping me figure out what interests me about wine. (Bradshaw, are you serious?!?) Every day this guy references at least half a dozen current, interesting, wine stories, and you can click on/read the ones that most appeal to you. Even when (Tuck!) you don't dig further, you're still forced to scan them all. It keeps you from sounding entirely rube-like. Like right now. I know nothing about football AT ALL, but it sounds like I care, doesn't it?

(19 seconds left...what will happen?)
(5 seconds left...what will happen?)

Also: (...wait...) (okay, that was good. Thank you, NBC for the live stream. Take note, ABC; the Academy Awards are coming and I'd like to see them, too.)
Also, all accessible/easy to peruse:
What wine newbies should know, by Matt Kramer, Wine Spectator.
Learn wine, Wine Spectator.
Wine basics, Wine Spectator.
What needs to be said, by Matt Kramer, Wine Spectator.
"That Fine Wines Deserve and Reward Aging. I don’t want to belabor the point, but in the spirit of the column, well, it needs to be said. If you love wine and you’re buying anything decent—let’s say any wine that costs $20 or more—you need to know that the odds are extremely good that the wine you’re buying today will taste better, and be more rewarding to you, if you stick it in a cool space for a year or even five or 10 years."

...and a few final tidbits.

from the seattle times.
from Inspiring Thirst, though the woman who started this cellar series got a Fulbright scholarship and left after the third post. I promise you, that won't happen here.
Wikipedia.

That'll keep you busy for a few minutes. It's 7:14, The Cave is closed. Has that wine survived a third day? Let's find out.....still sweet, it's shallower and less involved; it's moment was yesterday. That's fine, the Giants deserve the spotlight to themselves.

wine spelunking, part 3: you're not into wine, you have no money, and you want to go to the wine store. How do you know what you want to get?

part 1.
part 2.

part 3.
Please remember, this is anti-wine collecting. Remember Star Trek episode #33, aired October 6, 1967? It's like that. Which side is good and which side is evil is your call, but keep Heraclitus in mind on that one.

If this were regular wine collecting, you'd read a bunch of stuff, learn a bunch of stuff, buy a bunch of stuff, taste a bunch of stuff, talk to a bunch of other people about it, and buy some more stuff...after reading some more. Stuff. But we don't have time for that, or, let's be honest, the inclination. The truth is, it starts all innocent but within like five minutes you realize wine is an endless morass of seemingly necessary information to merely enjoy one really nice glass of wine before you die. We just want to cut to that last part, the really good glass of wine.

HOWEVER, though only sometimes, a little teeny-tiny bit of reading could be helpful. There is good wine and there is bad wine, and if you like bad wine it doesn't make it good wine, it just means you like bad wine. This may be wine for the 99%, but we're still aiming for the good wine.

The links in the side-bar to the right there are links that are generally in a language I comprehend, that tell me interesting things, with accessible knowledge. I don't need some expert talking so far over my head I feel like a puny loser. The thing is, that writer has no interest in me anyway; he's talking to the guy who gets what he's saying, his target audience. So: decide what you want to know, and find the writers who are targeting that.

A pattern will begin to emerge, the stories that interest you, what you pause to read about; it is exactly this that defines your interest in wine.

Could be the story of the vineyard.
Could be the descriptions of the wines.
Could be the picture of the guy picking grapes.
Could be the dog standing next to him, sniffing at the dirt.
Could be the name.
Could be label.
Could be that one color on the label.

It could be anything, anything you want it to be. There is no right or wrong. Don't let anyone but you define your connection to wine.

So you read a little, you figure out what matters to you, what connects you, what intrigues you, and now you take your duly saved pile of crumpled bills, get on your bike and head out to the wine store. Because even if what piqued your interest about wine was some internal, obscure idea, there is a GOOD wine that can answer to that.