Archive for December, 2008

I went to Florida for the holidays, joining some 30 members of my family for four days of heroic drinking, flailing golf, coma-like naps, hysterical limerick recitations and much gazing at infants. Along the lines of the Seinfeld rules of “no hugs, no learning,” here are some information-free and random notes on my food and drink experiences.

• At an English-style pub, have you ever been tempted to order Toad in a Hole, but have been too intimidated? Let me be of assistance. Toad in a Hole is a sausage that’s wrapped in, and baked with, a portion of Yorkshire Pudding, which is not so much pudding as it is pastry (flour, milk, eggs) that’s baked to a crusty outside and a spongey interior. As served at the Blue Anchor in Delray Beach, it is a toadstool-like thing with a big honkin’ sausage sticking out of it. You may well lose your appetite before you regain it.
• The Blue Anchor (dubbed “The Wanker” by my brother) has a marvelous beer menu, including cask-aged ales. I chose Old Speckled Hen, an English pale ale-styled beer of surpassing smoothness and flavor.
• The economy was much on people’s minds, so when shopping for wine, we adhered to a strict budget. The acclaimed winner in the red category in terms of quality in relation to price was Pascual Toso 2007 Malbec, which I believe we purchased at Total Wine & More for under $10 a bottle. Silky texture, rich dark fruit flavor, a touch of mushroom and tobacco, beautiful finish.
• I don’t care what the experts say, I really admire stores like Total Wine & More that make shopping for wine easy. Organized by variety and wine style (and within that, country, region), it enables people to follow their intuition about wine, at whatever level of wine savvy, which is empowering, and good for the industry.
• Finally, one of the few limericks we heard that’s just clean enough to be presented here, with my happy new years wishes: There once was a man from Clyde/Who fell in an outhouse and died/His brother named Flynn/Also fell in/And now they lay interred side by side.

This week I caught an interesting post on Alder Yarrow’s blog, Vinography. In the post he passionately lobbied for the greatness of gift certificates for wine lovers. “Never buy a serious wine lover a bottle of wine for a gift, at any time of the year. Let them buy it themselves” he says. The same goes for wine accessories and wine books. Being in the wine accessory/wine retail business at Wine Enthusiast Companies, I feel compelled to respond.

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Whether you’d like to acknowledge it or not, the holiday season is most definitely upon us. While it’s been a rather rough and tumultuous year, we have finally come upon the time where all is to be set aside for the sake of yuletide joy and peace. With Hanukkah starting last night and Christmas only 3 days away, now is the time to come to terms with reality… dust off the menorah and fuzzy Santa hat, bake some cookies and get in the holiday spirit, already!

Now I know, we’re all a bit reserved and hesitant to go and spend money on gifts, but sadly I think that many people don’t realize that the spending of money is not what the holidays are all about. It is difficult to watch people ignore this precious season due to their financial reservations and fear of impending doom. I know that these are tough times that call for serious attention to be paid, but again, if we don’t celebrate life, love, and the spirit of humanity now, then when?

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For some, the holidays are a time of vinous bounty, a time to bring forth cherished bottles to share with friends and family. For others, like Scrooge Czerwinski here, it’s a time to break out stuff good enough but not too good, or to just forego wine altogether, depending on the situation.

Some background might be useful here, as I attempt to rationalize my seemingly miserly behavior. Growing up, the holidays were almost the only times we had wine on the table. Wine–most often Ruffino Chianti or Weber Zeller Schwarze Katz–signified a special occasion in our house. It was an indulgence, even at such modest price points. Sometimes, my parents would have saved a bottle from a local winery we visited over the summer, and we’d have something from Wiemer or Bully Hill.

Now, grown up and having two children of my own, wine makes pretty regular appearances at our dinner table. Not every night, but about half the time. So wine is no longer an emblem of the season, or a statement that says, “This night is special.” Instead, the things that make our holiday meals special are the care with which they are prepared and the people with whom we are sharing them.

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Don’t you love that moment when you take the first sip of a wine you haven’t tried before, expectations zero, and no matter who you’re talking to or what else is going on in the room—you stop, you look at the glass, you sort of “hm!” inside. That’s a damn good wine.

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