Grilled Cheese Dissidents: A Quick Post, On The Eve of Our Wine-iversary

The only thing worse than falling off a scooter is falling off a scooter while it’s parked in your driveway.

‘Nough said?

Cool.

Megan did everything this week as my body was in rough shape, we are (going crazy) closing on our house, and I am on painkillers.

On the Menu: Roasted Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese Samwiches with Sharp White Cheddar and Herbed Focaccia or Herbed Ciabatta, Homemade Oreo Cookies

The ultimate comfort food dinner.  We enjoyed the fare, with its epicurean touches, and everyone ignored the wincing man-child at the table.   The Homemade Oreos were pretty rad.  They tasted just like Oreo cookies, but really soft and chewy.  Kind of how the founders intended Oreo cookies, I would imagine, if the founding fathers of America had spent time discussing the proper execution of baked goods.

Which they did.

(Sorry … painkillers.)

Wine: Viña Ardanza, Reserva Especial, Rioja, 2001, Spain, $470 MXN
Rating: Zero Bottles

Zero bottles, you ask?  That’s right.  A big bottle of moose urine.  Are we being too harsh with this wine?  No.

And I’ll tell you why …

For a wine to get a One Bottle rating, it must be a wine that you would buy “in a pinch.”  I would grab Gato Negro before I bought this wine again.  I would not buy this wine in a pinch, and certainly not for $470 pesos.

And why not?

As mentioned already, too expensive for the quality.  Very tart, with not a lot of improvement after aerating (and letting it sit for a while to think about what it did).  Plummy, with just a hint of vinegar.  Also, a strong taste of vinegar, with just a hint of plum.

We actually think this wine might have just been too old.  Which is possible.  It could have been just sitting too long.  Maybe it got lost at sea and someone found it, years later, and thought, “Let’s sell this for money!”  I’m sure it seemed like a good idea.

Less of a good idea?  Buying and drinking it.

Anyway … you live, you learn.

You lose … you learn.

Next week marks our one year wine-iversary.  We are excited.  We are being treated by Rene and Cara who will be making all of the cooking and doing with all of the baking for food.  (Painkillers.  Sorry.)  Megan and I will be permitted to drink to our hearts content.  Which, according to heart doctors, is a glass-and-a-half a day.  Which means that we’ll have to not drink any glasses all week so that we can have ten-and-a-half glasses each on Sunday!

Till then,

Cheers!

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