The New Discovery

I love red wine.  I would ALMOST go as far as to say that I’m a wine snob but if the end of the world were upon us and all I could get my hands on was a flavourlsess merlot or a young beaujoloais I’d put all pretentions aside and gladly imbibe.

 I blame it all on pregnancy.  Before my 9 months of abstinence (x 2) I was much less discerning with my taste buds.  Red wine (in whatever form it took) = flowing conversation, loud meals, lively family get togethers and side splitting laughs with the girls.  

And then I got pregnant.

I’ve been to medical school.  I know the risks.  But I also read the posters in the bathroom stalls of seedy bars.  Needless to say, my red wine consumption took a drastic nosedive to nothingness.  Or ALMOST nothingness, I should say.  (I indulged in one SINGLE glass on my 30^th birthday…5 days before my due date…)

 During that time of intense abstinence I found it shockingly easy to still enjoy lively family gatherings, flowing conversations, loud meals and sidesplitting laughs with the girls.  What I began to crave, however, was that first PERFECT sniff and sip of a BEAUTIFUL, full bodied, layered red wine.  And when, months and months after the confinement was over and I once again allowed myself the guilt free pleasure of wine consumption (we are talking MONTHS after the initial 9 months!!!) I found myself scrutinizing the wines.  If I was only able to now enjoy ONE glass at a time it had BETTER be a GOOD one!  (Or so I told myself…)  The reality was this: I had become a red wine snob.

Over time, I have managed to hone this snobbiness down to an art.  I read about red wines in monthly magazine subscriptions to Food and Wine.  I have coerced unsuspecting friends out to wine tastings to temper my fastidiousness.   I have watched the movie Sideways and taken notes.  I make regular trips to the vintages section of the LCBO.  I have an App on my iPhone.    I have embraced my snobiness; although I no longer imbibe in quantity, I DO indulge in quality.

 

Last night, on a particularly unremarkable Wednesday night, we were enjoying a nice roast beef dinner with the kids and the smells from the crock pot when I got home inspired me to pour myself a glass of red.  I knew it was going to only be one glass (Rob was having a beer- with beef- he learns NOTHING from me!!!)  So I scanned my collection of reds and decided I should pick one with a screw top.

WHY a screw top?  I asked myself that question 5 minutes later.  Maybe for ease of closing?  More likely to fit the price tag of a one glass random Wednesday night consumption?  We will never know.  I glanced quickly at the label – RESERVA – that ALWAYS makes a wine sound good and then made sure it wasn’t a Barolo – it wasn’t – and then cracked the lid.

The second I poured this wine I could tell it was a good one.  I couldn’t see anything through it and the legs on this baby put Angelina to shame.

And then I took a sip.

“Oh, shit. “ I thought as the perfectly balanced tannins and ruby red cherries melded in unison with the spice of pepper.  I didn’t even have a chance to finish my thought before the oakiness hit me and absolved my tongue of all fruitiness before leaving me with a dry lingering aftertaste of perfection.  “Oh no.  What have I opened…?"

And then it hit me.  Last month was my birthday - -I had treated myself to a LOVELY array of new vintages.  I had been given gifts of fine red wines.  I had bought only the best for the dinner we hosted that night.  We had tons leftover.  And I had thrown them all in with our collection…

Just when I resolved to keep this unintentional opening of a fine red wine to myself, my well-accustomed husband took one look at my first- sip experience and immediately demanded a sip of this piece of heaven that I was drinking.

BUSTED.

“Whoa.  That’s a nice red.” He said as he handed me back my wine, “How much does THAT one cost?”

Did I mention that I was busted?

“Well…” I said sheepishly…” I don’t EXACTLY know.  I kind of just picked it up off the wine shelf and figured it wouldn’t be that exciting seeing as it has a screw top….”

(Insert husband’s 5-minute lecture on how screw top wines no longer correlate with cheap wines.)

I still hadn’t answered his question.

I decided that the only REASONALBE thing to do in this situation was to enjoy the wine (which I then offered to share with my equally wine-informed husband) and deal with the ramifications afterwards.

After all the dinner plates had been cleaned up and the screw top lid had been placed back on our now half-drunk bottle, I engaged the family in a game of Bingo and then snuck upstairs to use my iPhone app to see just HOW MUCH this mysteriously delicious wine actually cost.

Rob was hot on my heels, yelling helpful things like,” I don’t ACTUALLY want to KNOW! “ And “If it’s REALLY good it is probably OK to breathe until Saturday night!” over his shoulder at me.

iPhone apps don’t lie.

This miraculous beauty was a mere $11.95

(I don’t even BUY red wines that cost $11.95!!!!)

In retelling this story today to my mother, I had it pointed out to me that I probably would never have ALLOWED myself to enjoy this wine quite so much had I checked the price tag first.  My mom isn’t often right on these matters, but this time we will go with that.

Tonight I am enjoying the remnants of this bottle as I write my blog and I have to say that my opinion on it hasn’t diminished one bit since learning of it’s reasonable price.  What exactly does this mean?  Am I perhaps not such a wine expert as I thought?  Am I maybe not as much of a wine snob as I thought?  Is one of my friends actually an ingenious red wine shopper?

One thing is for sure: this little discovery over Wednesday night crock-pot beef is going to save this wine snob a LOT of money…