grenache.

x-fact ~ pronounced gren-ash

bitch south australian grenache 2006
paid 9.99
reg. @12.99

(the label is 2005, i had a 2006)

i love this wine. not because the label is so bitchin', but because this wine is!

i first saw this wine months and months ago at my store. i've bought it at least once for my little sister (sis in the city) perhaps twice, but have never had it myself.

okay, i know she gave me a glass at some point at her house after i gave it to her, but seriously, i'm sure it wasn't my *first* glass for the evening or even second, definitely not the . . . and as a result i don't really recall drinking it.

anyhow, the forever designated driver bought this for me and brought it home. i was so excited by the girly pink label that i didn't even think to ask why my forever designated driver of more than 13 years brought me a wine called "bitch."

huh.

no matter because i am in love. i am in love with this wine. this wine is gorgeous in the bottle, and even better looking in the glass. a crystal clear, deep garnet color, with a drink me mantra firmly gripping your palate and legs like you wouldn't believe.

at first sip it's delicious. mmm. i do love a grenache. a grenache generally lacks tannins, which is a boon for those who don't really like a "red winey" kind of wine.

and which for some, can be boring and no better than a wine to blend with something a bit more assertive.

but for me, it's fun and flirty and so unabashedly drinkable. which suits the label and the name and the whole shebang.

as i've mentioned, i do love a wine that i can just *be* with. great at first sip and remains so throughout.

and like one of those epic first or second or . . . totally great dates it's delicious and beautiful and doesn't make me think.

well, okay, yes i do appreciate a brain. but c'mon! don't you think there is a place for the empty calorie in the world of romance? just a teensy glass every now and again?

the thing about this wine that surprises me, though, is there is an underlying complexity. one must be open to it, but in the first few sips and beyond, underneath it all, i really got a layer of flavor not unlike a port.

not the port your uncle frank pushes on you from a dusty and long been opened bottle that sports a label you are sure you've seen on perpetual sale at the drugstore in the canned soup, canned fruit, "wine" aisle. but a delicious port perfect for sipping from a properly fiddly little port glass.

yet even though there is that hinty layer of port, this wine is light and juicy and totally fabulous in that floating on your tongue before it hits your stomach kinda way.

i can't say when to drink this wine. it's so good just as is on a tuesday night after a long day. a day of hearing things come out of your mouth that you swore never would. just sadly confirming that yes, ma'am, you can be the mom you never thought you would become. sigh.

and in the blink of an eye you are stronger and funnier and more patient than you ever knew you could be. and in an instant you are the mom you always dreamed you could be. sigh, double sigh.

i want to gossip on the phone after a few sips of this. juicy AND true the gossip must be to do this wine justice. well, and isn't that the best kind?

i want to watch a movie that has romance, but isn't a romantic comedy. dogfight. as good as it gets. knocked up.

ANY movie with john cusack.

this wine is kelly and dylan and that summer on the beach when brenda went to paris. an undeniable attraction to someone who could "belong" to your best friend, who's flawed, perhaps dangerous, maybe a loser, and has no business in your life to begin with. (though dylan was perfect. sigh, triple sigh) there is more than one obstacle and really it's probably gonna end badly, or, and this is a BIG *or*, maybe not. and yet, there you have it.

and do you remember the song they played during that episode?

ayup.

bitch by meredith brooks.

ah, 90210. that season in particular. at that time, not since m*a*s*h in syndication and magnum p.i. on prime time did t.v. so fulfill me body and soul.

like what those shows gave me at the time, this wine is charming, engaging, and goes down easily without a lot of thought or none at all. and damn it if you don't feel worlds better for having had a glass or two of it.

best to drink this wine with a long distance chatty catch up phone call or an intimate gathering of good friends or sisters. because as we all are prone to, given the right circumstances, or the perfect bottle of wine, right and wrong and all that in between seems to fall away with each glass and what you're left with is just the idea of what the moment could be.

which works perfectly well in tv land zip codes and songs of assertiveness and romantic but not romantic comedy movies.

in the real world, the world of the been there done that and as a result the, ahem!, presumed wiser, it's nice to just have a tuesday as is.

with a wine as good as this, and memories as, ummm, yeah, as "bad" as that.

cheers, bitches!

x.