Wine's Fine

Now, I don’t have any sources to quote, but all of us have read/heard the stories about a glass of wine keeping the doctor away. Undoubtedly, there is more than pseudoscience going on here. Moderate wine drinking = health benefits. What the causal relationship is, however, is another matter. I’ve read, among other theories, that it may be nothing more than the relaxing, stress-reducing effects of alcohol that may be behind the health benefits. Whatever the mechanism, it can’t be disputed that a glass of wine is beneficial if only because it is one of life’s most wonderful simple pleasures.

With that said, and in due candor, I am writing tonight under the effects of a bottle of young Shiraz wine of dubious vintage. Now, let me admit upfront that this is a bottle of “Two buck Chuck” (Charles Shaw) wine sold exclusively by Trader Joes at the humble price of $2 per bottle. Before you let out a bourgeoisie *sigh* let me tell you this much: most wines are just plain too sour and astringent (tannins). This Charles Shaw Shiraz is no wonder-wine either, but perhaps because of its young age, it is a tad sweet and so avoids that mouth-puckering onslaught of tannins and sourness. Ok, it’s not very complex and goodness knows I’m blessed with a palette for distinguishing all those wonderful flavor variants like berries, pears, apples, chocolate, etc. It would be so much more decent if it only had a bit of oak going on. Even so, it is delightfully light, crisp, slightly sweet and thoroughly drinkable. Not complex, but satisfactorily tasty. For $2, it’s a rare pleasure indeed. Highly recommended. And apropos of nothing, I used to love merlot; I’m now so sick of it that anything else is apt to taste good, no matter how bad!

One more thing: um…there’s a glass of ginger ale and gin sitting next to me. I’m afraid I left that bottle of shiraz behind a while ago. In my defense I drank that bottle over dinner and baking a cheesecake (oh, I see another blog in the making!). The gin…well, I can’t explain that away so easily. ‘ night ‘night.