I don't have my wine tastings as frequently now as I used to, but they are still my favorite events of the year. They are just a big huge fermented blast. It's so fun seeing all my various friends from different circles mix together, catalyzed by wine and sweat. It's extra special for me, because I know that the only thing they all have in common is...me. :) Is that awfully self-centered, or what?
There are laughs, arguments, friendships made and broken, and sometimes even loves found or lost. They are costly and a huge mess, but I wouldn't live without them. I usually manage one big one a year now.
I was strolling through some old emails and found my invitation for this one, held interestingly enough on July 11, 2003, exactly two years before Maddie was born. This was before I knew Heather, but we have since had a couple tastings and integrating her friends into the mix has worked out great. I have noticed that the events get more and more casual as time goes on, with less tasting and more slurping.
I always try to make them sound fun in the invites, but they often blow past fun to something else. They are "Über-fun". I can tell you for a fact that many of the people reading this post have a favorite Wild Wine Tasting story. Care to share?
Ok, here goes...
Well, friends...it's time again. Just when you thought it was safe to let your liver out of the house un-chaperoned, along comes another bout of the thinly-veiled hedonism that we all know and love as a Wild Wine Tasting Extravaganza (If any of you Ford geeks turn that into an acronym I'm going to come after you and douse you with Ripple). Yes, this will separate the spitters from the swallowers (hey, I'm being very serious here :-)~
Here's the way it works: Dave picks a theme (which I have done, admirably). Everyone brings a bottle of wine, specified below (don't worry, I'll stick Dennis with the 1961 Mouton). Everyone also brings a food item (also conveniently specified below, no Meijer substitutes, please), their favorite wine glass(es), an open mind, an extra pair of stretchy pants, a skate key, and a feeling of unfulfillable wonder. Wine snobbiness will not be tolerated. Drunken debauchery will not only be tolerated, it will be rewarded. However, red stains outside of the designated stain areas are strictly prohibited, under penalty of electric shock.
The theme is Wines of France. We will be trying bottles from some of the various major wine areas: Bourgogne (Burgundy, including Beaujolais), Bordeaux, Alsace, Chablis, the Loire Valley, the Rhône Valley, Languedoc-Roussillon (maybe), and Champagne. As previous participants can attest, these things are really informal and loose, so we'll just have fun, talk about these areas a little, and dive in (remember, no splashing). There is no dress code, but if anyone shows up in a toga this time, I'm going to close the vomitorium. You know who you are.
Wines of France - Wine and Food Assignments
Please let me know if you have any questions. None of these should be that hard to find. If you're having trouble finding the wine, just walk out of Walgreen's and call me, I can help.
Jennifer
Wine: Louis Latour Chablis
Food: Fresh-baked bread!
Dennis & "Guest"
Wines: Burgundy - Rouge (better see me first), Loire Muscadet (ditto)
Food: Cheeses and Charcuterie!
Ingrid & Al
Wines: Vouvray, Trimbach Alsatian Riesling (sec) or Pinot Gris
Food: Cold watercress soup, Shrimp and avocado salsa
Howard & Glenda
Wine: Veuve Cliquot Champagne, or similar Epernay/ Reims
Food: Your choice!
Dave
Wines: 1996 Chateau Cantemerle Grand Cru Classe, Beaujolais-Villages
Food: Green olive tapenade, Leek and goat cheese tart or Chevre appetizer
Rob & Gail
Wine: Pouilly Fuisse, Macon-Villages, or some other white Burgundy
Food: Your choice!
Brandi & Guest
Wine: Côtes du Rhône Rouge, E. Guigal
Food: Your choice!
Brian & Carol
Wine: Sancerre
Food: Your choice!
Directions to Dave's
While my Villa in Siena is under construction, I currently live in the American Mid-West at (directions here). No loitering, the guards have strict orders about this. Knock the special knock and enter. If you don't hear B.B. King or Marley playing, something is very, very wrong. Back away slowly and leave, shaking your head.
We begin at 7. I have only one guest bedroom, and it goes to the first person to pass out. If you wake up in the middle of the night, watch out for the wooden giraffe, he bites. The second person gets the couch and it goes downhill from there. If you wake up in the garage, you'll know you held up to the bitter end. Please don't wake up in jail, I'd hate to have that on my conscience, and that's not a good place to go looking for dates anyhow. I will gladly accommodate anyone who needs to crash.
Seriously (well, as serious as I get), we'll have a great time and hopefully end up with a better appreciation for some of the many different styles of wine they make in France.
~Wildman~
"Water separates the people of the world, wine unites them" - Anonymous
(That 'Anonymous', he's so clever! Have you ever noticed how many cool quotes he's kicked out over the years?)
4 comments:
Burgundy is a good choice for me to bring. I love it and I happen to have an extra box of Almaden Mountain Burgandy from Kroger's in my pantry. I was using it to hold the door at the bottom of the basement stairs open, but now that plan has changed.
Got an extra brick I can have?
I remember that one! One of my favorites. I had to buy Howard's champagne for him. Other faves include the white wine one when Dennis brought Amy. And the wines of the Med where we drank something that tasted like gasoline and Rob Cunningham handed out a PowerPoint presentation. God I miss the Wild Wine Tastings.
Those were great, I remember them well, which is amazing considering the volume of wine we had. I think for the next one we should take up a collection and have Ingrid flown in for it :)
me, too.
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