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Pony: No Effin Merlot!
2.26.2005
Have you all seen Sideways, that movie about the mismatched friends who travel through California wine country? It may have turned me into a wine lush.
Today Kiff and I trekked up to Summerhill station to go to the huge liquor store (a renovated train station) with the impressive vintages section and tons of hilarious yuppies with identical Starbucks cups and blackberry pagers in holsters. But it was a great outing.
I love it when retail stores have the spirit of an event to them. Maybe it comes from a love of Sample Days at Safeway when I was a kid, but I was just giddy over the Reislings and mini-quiches. We are going over to Kat b.'s house tonight for dinner and we decided to pick up a nice French red: A Santenay red Burgundy from "Michel Colin Deleger et Fils" - really, don't ask.
At any rate, I don't know much about anything when it comes to wine, except that pinot grigio is a nice summer wine and I find most chardonnays cloying. As for reds, I think that riojas and some Australians (Penfolds) give a great bang for the buck. And now, of course, we know that merlot is supposed to be some hilarious faux pas based on the wine snob in Sideways "I'm not drinking any fucking merlot!"
So the other day, after the umpteenth heavy snowfall, Kiff took the shovel, cleared the back (and even under the Icicle of Death), then the landlord's walk, then, while he was at it, shoveled the walk of the Neighbours Who Hate Us (because we called the city on the rat problem in their yard). He came home smelling like sweaty snowsuit.
A few days later, the old neighbour rapped on his window and beckoned kiff to come over. He handed him a 1.5 litre bottle of wine and thanked him for clearing the walk (this is a radical shift from the "I gonna keel you" plus fist shake from his porch last August).
When I came home, there was the bottle on the table. A HUGE bottle of red. It was...merlot. (dundundunnnnnn). Kiff looked the "Casarsa" brand online. It was rated one of the worst wines ever, but he opened it anyway. I gave it a sniff. It smelled like gumdrops. Kiff tasted it. He said it had the consistency of water but burned his cheeks like mouthwash and gave him instant indigestion.
Perhaps he wanted to "keel" us with bad wine? The jury is still out.
In the meantime, can you make decent beef bourginon with trashy merlot? Anyone?
