by Christine | Wine Friday
In these days of high unemployment and global financial crisis, it’s nice to relax with a bottle of wine that doesn’t break your pocketbook. I’m here to sort out the memorable from the truly awful, and each bottle is under $10.
~ ~ ~
First up is Fetzer. Here’s what I know about Fetzer – it was one of the first wineries I personally visited, and therefore is close to my heart. I haven’t tried many of their expensive wines, and haven’t been there in 20 years, but still. So here goes.
Fetzer California Sauvignon Blanc, 2009 The Earth-Friendly Winery, Mendocino County At Vons – normally $5.99, on sale for $3.99
On the Label: “In 2009, Fetzer converted all bottles to lightweight glass, reducing the bottles’ weight an average of 17%. This also reduced the carbon emissions of our bottles – the equivalent of 70,000 trees growing for ten years. While reducing the impact on the environment, we still deliver quality wine.
Pure varietal flavors of lemon, green apple, and a hint of mint are captured in this refreshing, food-friendly Sauvignon Blanc.”
At first taste: The smell is fresh, light and citrusy. The taste is also fresh and light. Still, Sauvignon Blancs are mostly a food wine. When I paired it with pasta pesto and a big garden salad, this wine really came into it’s own. The freshness of the wine deepened my appreciation of the food, and the food really pointed up the beauty of the wine.
Fetzer is a workhorse – they’ve been consistently putting out drinkable and affordable wines forever, which make them even more dear to my heart.
My Rating: ~ Drinkable – Very ~ especially due to the price! Stock up now while summer is still going strong, and for those hot days in autumn.
A By Acacia Red Blend, 2007 Sonoma, California Visit their website here. Alcohol
13.5% by volume $9.37 on sale at Vons.
On the Label: “At Acacia, we’ve been making wine since 1979. With decades of experience, we remain committed to producing the finest wines from California’s most ideal growing regions. Our A by Acacia Red Blend is made from a delightful combination of grae varietals, blended to create a truly delicious and enjoyable wine. Rich and well-balanced, the wine showcases flavors of plum, raspberry, blackberry and vanilla. If you like Pinot Noir, you’ll like our Red Blend!”
My take: Okay, full disclosure here. I love Acacia wines, and have ever since I was introduced to their 1997 Pinot Noir. Acacia wines have, sadly, gone out of my price range. (A quick check of their website shows one bottle for $24, one for $25, a whole bunch for over $30, and a few over $70. Gulp.) So imagine my pleasure when I found this one for under $10! It is definitely one of my new go-to wines.
At my first taste, I fell in love. The wine is rich and has depth, and would be terrific to sip while having a relaxing conversation about existentialism next to a fire simmering in the fireplace. Instead, for dinner I paired it with a baked eggplant parmesan, garden salad and garlic bread, and it complemented the meal beautifully.
I just recently bought another bottle of A by Acacia, and it was below $9 on special at Vons. Just in case you wanted to know.
My Rating: ~ Stay away! This is MY wine, you slut! ~ No, seriously. Get your own.
Remember, the above is my opinion based upon my taste buds, which can act up depending upon how much sleep I’ve gotten, how many times I’ve typed “water level” or “groundwater” that day, and whether or not the novel is close to being finished. Your taste buds will vary.
~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~
Demon Soul is available for the Kindle and the Nook! Have you read it yet?
by Christine | Life, Observations
thanks to mortonqlanglinaiss.blogspot.com
There are some people who are always seeking joy. For the optimists, and I definitely include myself in that group, everything will always work out. The money will be there, the vacation will happen, the book will sell. If it doesn’t work out in the way they hope, then something better will come along and take care of things.
Then there are those who go through life guarded against disappointment. They worry a lot. It’s more of, this is what I’ll have to do because the money isn’t there. We’ll be lucky to take a vacation next year. Selling a book is a crapshoot.
I understand the pessimist’s viewpoint – or as a friend of mine would say, the “realist’s” viewpoint. They’ve been burned. Life’s hit them over the head a time or two, and they’re just hoping that nothing jumps out at them and swings the bat one more time. I get it. I sympathize.
But I can’t live that way. I HAVE to generate positivity. It’s hard-wired in me, like my green eyes and slender ankles. As I get older, I’m getting more mellow about it, too. I love surprising people – holding the door open for someone younger than me with their hands full, and giving them a warm smile. Waving folks into traffic ahead of me. Chatting in an upbeat manner to complete strangers. 
I find that I like positivity in my online life, too. I’ve actually un-followed people on Twitter because of the language they’d use, and the negativity they sprayed on my day. I’m no prude – I can fling epithets around with the best of them, but I don’t want to see them on Twitter from people I barely know, ranting about their personal life. (That’s what a blog is for, lol!)
Cheerful people, on line and in person, uplift my day. Make me more able to go about with a smile on my face. Cheerful people generate a feeling of well-being in others. I am gung-ho about cheer, and positivity, and making my little corner of the world a sunnier place.
Which are you? A “realist” or an “optimist”?
by Christine | Wine Friday
In these days of high unemployment and global financial crisis, it’s nice to relax with a bottle of wine that doesn’t break your pocketbook. I’m here to sort out the memorable from the truly awful, and each bottle is under $10.
~ ~ ~
My head is still spinning from the work-week (I’m EMPLOYED! YAY!), so I’m dipping into the wine archives (my little black book, where I put down my impressions of wine and etcetera) that I haven’t already written about. It’s a bit of a grab bag – I’m never sure what I’ll find in the depths of the book, but I guarantee it’ll be interesting.
Folie a Deux Zinfandel, 2008 Amador County Regularly $16.99, on sale at Vons for $9.99. Alcohol 14.5% by volume…website here.
On the Label: “Soft and smooth, this Zinfandel offers aromas of plum and cherry with just a hint of pepper and spice. This wine is an ideal pour with almost any meat entree, from haute cuisine to barbecue.”
First taste: Oh yeah, bay-bee! Spot on to the label. It’s got a BIG alcohol content though, so be careful! The plum, cherry, pepper and spice are all there, and it’s got that big flavor that I love. I served this with a thick vegetable/chicken stew Italian-style with tons of added garlic. Plus some rosemary bread. The wine paired perfectly with the meal, and it was a wonderful, congenial, warming evening.
My Rating: ~Stay away! This is MY wine, you slut!~
Folie a Deux also has the Menage label, which are blended wines. I remember being enthralled with a couple of their white wine blends, but it’s been awhile so I really must do another tasting, yes? Hmmm…
Triada Malbec 2010 Wine of Argentina / La Rioja Two bottles for $10 at
Walgreens, Scottsdale, Arizona ~ 12.5% alcohol by volume ~ screwtop (That was in June – don’t know if the wine is still available at that price.)
The label: “Medium bodied, juicy red with soft red fruit aromas and flavors. Delicious glass of smooth juicy pleasure. This wine is best served at 65 degrees F. Once opened, it will remain in good condition for up to two days if resealed and stored in a cool place.”
Okay. We were in Arizona to see family, and whenever my brother-in-law and I get together, we like drinking wine. Whatever time of day it may happen to be. He’d seen this wine advertised and chilled it – way below 65 degrees F, but you know? The wine NEEDED to be chilled.
That said, it was as claimed – a juicy pleasure. Not something I’d reach for if I had another choice, but on a HOT day in Scottsdale in June, with all the stresses that accompany seeing elderly family members, that wine hit the spot. I won’t deny that my pleasure in the wine had everything to do with Dave (the BIL).
My Rating ~ Drinkable ~ especially when chilled.
It does, however, bring up a point. You never know where you’ll find a good bottle of wine (okay, a DRINKABLE bottle of wine) for a very good price. And every now and then, especially when the heat kicks your ass, chilling that bottle of red can be a wonderful thing (especially if it’s an inexpensive bottle). So keep your eyes open, and check out the drug store, the dollar store, and other stores that just may have something drinkable around for a price that won’t make your wallet weep.
As usual, this is just my honest opinion and depend upon my mood, the weather, and what cycle the moon is in. Your taste buds will differ.
~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~
Demon Soul is available for the Kindle and the Nook! Have you read it yet?
by Christine | Life
This whole working during the day thing is tiring, you know? I was going to post the blog yesterday, and I lost my new password. So I went to sleep, instead.
Today I was up and gone before the birds I think. No, not really, but it felt like it. So the blog didn’t get written. And I’m not writing it now, since hubby is pouring me champagne in congrats on my first week at the job.
Here’s hoping by the end of the year I’ll be skinnier and have two books finished, as WELL as handling the job with flair.
Blog tomorrow, I promise!
by Christine | Life, Writing
It happened like this. I was preparing for our vacation the day before we left. I’d been running errands all day, dashing hither, hopping yon, and it was a hot day so I was in lime green shorts, a black tee shirt, and a fine layer of sweat.
I’d just gotten back from my umpteenth shopping trip when the phone rang. It was a very good friend of mine. Here’s how the conversation went down.
“Hi Christine. Do you still need a job?”
“Um. Yeah. I guess so.” (Wary – I love my girlfriend, but sometimes…)
“Then take down this number. Call him right now. He needs someone right away as his secretary is retiring.”
Now my brain is kicking in gear. “Where are they, what do they do, how much do they pay, yada yada?”
“They’re in my building, five geologists who deal with water, $XX, and they’re all really nice guys. They’d be thrilled to have someone like you.”
Decision time. Even with a broken leg, I do need a job and I don’t want to go back to retail.
“Give me the number. By the way, I have a broken leg.”
*shrieks* *gives me the number* “Call RIGHT NOW.”
“Okay, okay. I’m calling.” I hang up. Sheesh. It’s two-something on a hot Friday afternoon. After fortifying myself with a cup of coffee, I call the number and am soon connected.
“Hi. My name is Christine, and my friend T. told me to call you about a job opening.”
“Wow Christine. I just got back upstairs from talking to her.”
*Cut – we did a lot of jabbering about the job, and about my quals. I tell him about the broken leg, and that I’m going on vacation the next day, but if he wants to see me this afternoon I’d come down, lime green shorts, sweat and all. He agrees.*
So I print out the resume, wash my face, and head on out. To Studio City. A 40 minute drive. Once I get there, I can see what my friend meant when she said it was a cozy place – a smattering of offices, conference room, tiny kitchen and bathrooms. Barely big enough to swing a cat in, but still, nice with a buzz of busy.
The interview goes well. What REALLY makes my day are the huge empty wine bottles (jeraboam (sp) size, I think) scattered around the office. We knock off all the important stuff about the job and then settle into a wine discussion, and one about chocolate, and how every now and then he has “seminars” on Friday afternoons involving cheese, crackers, and one bottle of wine shared out amongst whomever is in the office…
When I left, we were mutually delighted with each other. While I was on vacation, I heard from my references that they’d been contacted that Monday; on Tuesday I received a call asking me to come in on Monday the 15th for a second interview. My girlfriend T told me to be prepared to stay all day.
Upshot? I walked in Monday, we zipped through all the info, he made me a job offer, and I started working that same morning. As day jobs go, I landed a beauty.
I haven’t had a steady, 8-5, M-F job since – Um…2001??? BEFORE I became a writer. The challenge now will be grabbing the time to write, and not letting that part of my life just slip away. It means too much to me now.
I guess I need to study for my Super Writer Powers of Time Manipulation…
Tomorrow is Friday, so another wine blog is coming your way. Cheers all, and remember – drink responsibly!
