Finding My Inner Wino

I enjoy the occasional glass of wine. I’m not a wine aficionado by any means. Not even close. I’m more like an accidental wine clown. I like what I like and labels mean very little to me. I don’t have the palette or nose to ever become a connoisseur. I really like watching the Podcast Wine Library TV because Gary makes wine fun and accessible to the average person. I’ve learned a little too.

The last time the Mister and I went to Olive Garden for dinner the waitress asked if we’d like to try the wine she was offering. We did and it was way too dry for my tastes. She asked if I preferred red or white and I told her white and she brought us a Riesling which I have always wanted to try. I really liked it. It was a Chateau Ste. Michelle wine. We went out the next day to hunt up a bottle for ourselves. Turns out that was easier said than done because Chateau Ste. Michelle has several Rieslings and I didn’t know which one we had been served. We ended up at our favorite wine store and I asked the very knowledgeable sales person for a recommendation. She found us a bottle of Cold Creek reserve which is a Chateau Ste. Michelle label. We haven’t tried it yet because I feel like we should save it for a special occasion. Then again, we hardly celebrate anything so when would that ever happen. This whole thing led to me perusing Gary’s recommendations for Rieslings and I ended up ordering three bottles from his website and they arrived yesterday. Check it out:

Left to right:  1) The Cold Creek bottle I got from our wine store 2)Herman Wiemer Semi Dry Riesling 3) Icardi Barbera D'asti Tabarin 4)Lis Neris Pinot Grigio

I got the Riesling for obvious reasons. The Barbera I got because the Mister likes Chianti and Gary said that he prefers Barbera wine to Chianti so I thought it’d be fun to try it out. I got the Pinot Grigio because it’s my favorite of all wines.

I’ve also decided to start saving my empty bottles and corks. Why? Because I saw this shot on Weeds where Nancy was getting ready to take a bath. Surrounding her tub were wine bottles and I really liked how it looked. Now, I just need a tub where I could do that, lol. Here’s some of my empties:

 

The Riesling on the left was pretty good. Not as good as the Chateau Ste. Michelle but tasty. The Merlot was from Thanksgiving. We had Merlot with our turkey on the recommendation of Emeril Lagasse. I was a bit skeptical but surprisingly, it went well with dinner. The Pinot Grigio was recommended by our wine store person. He told us not to be afraid of a twist cap instead of a cork, lol. It was a good wine. The Chianti we bought with the the other two Rieslings from our wine store. It was a full bodied wine and was a good compliment to our ribeyes but not a favorite of mine. Like I said, I prefer white wines.

The Mister said I’m becoming a wino, lol. Considering that these four bottles of wine make up 9 months worth of wine consumption, I’m not worried. Although, I have bought six bottles in the last week, heheh. Oh well. I’ll take my chances.