white zinfandel.

OAK LEAF VINEYARDS
White Zinfandel
California

x-fact~ please do not let the fact that this is a white zinfandel fool you. really, i know you're scared. so was i. but it's going to be okay. oh, and you can only get it at wal-mart. okay, okay, simmer down now, i told you it would be okay. trust me? of course you do.

paid; gift!
reg. 2.97

when i was a younger lass and unequipped with the basics, like a legal drinking age, much money, or any taste, white zinfandel was the classy wine. no foolin' this was it. oh sure, this was right about the time of the boone's. but let's face it, the boone's was just for the "every day," your out in the middle of the country parties, your surreptitious drinking in the park. the white zinfandel was for the special times.

and judging from historical pictorial evidence, i cannot for the life of me figure out what possessed me to think that the wearing of sunglasses and hawaiian skirts and drinking with a bunch of sweaty guys screamed special times, but apparently, judging from the bottle in my hand, it did.

so, as love affairs often do, my love affair with white zinfandel only lasted so long. as i aged so did my taste buds. and for the better. and while i thought fondly of my special times with the white zin, boy was i happy never to have to drink it again!

until now.

now. it was easter of this year, and this bottle was brought into my home. i did not seek this bottle out. and i had no wish to drink it. rather, i stuck it in the fridge and figured, at some distant point, i'd get a taker.

well, take one long rough day a few weeks later that finished in a early spring, warmish, evening and that taker ended up being me.

shocking. really.

may i say i love this wine? may i say this wine is not the white zin of my youth? if it's a white zin at all? this wine is more like a rose'. a delicate, dainty rose', and it's delicious.

it pours out into the prettiest pale pink color. and if you have it chilled just right, it's crisp and clean and sweet right away. but not too sweet, and just *the* right amount of crisp. but it has to be chilled right. i know this because i do extensive research on these things exclusively for your benefit. extensive.

and when i said it's delicate i mean that it's got just the flirtiest hint of floral undertones. and you know i don't use the word "floral." ever. so you're just gonna have to trust me on this one.

and even though this is all sounding precious and pearls, like i've just told you my colors are blush and bashful, please do not be mistaken.

oh, certainly, this would be a perfect before or during wine for that sunday brunch, spring luncheon, baby or wedding shower. perfect.

but i don't think this wine would like to be limited to the table. because i think deep down, underneath all the pink and the delicate, is a good ol' porch wine. meant to be pulled from the bucket of ice (not to be mistaken for an ice bucket, but literally a bucket filled with ice and a few bottles of this wine), pulled and then poured into a jelly jar and drunk on your front porch while you watch the afternoon go by.

the rocking chair and creaky screen door are optional.

all right, so yeah, if you serve this at the brunch, the lunch, or the shower, of course it would pair beautifully with any number of canapes, appetizers, or small flavorful bites. just be sure to be deferential to the individual flavors, keeping things simple, clean, true. don't try to get too fancy with the food of spring. it's got its own fabulousness that only needs a light hand and the chance to shine in its own glory. and darlings, you do know that presentation is everything. right? okay. good.

but what does a girl eat when she's decided to wile away the afternoon, sittin' on the porch, drinking from a jelly jar?

whatever the hell she wants. and who in the hell really cares?

because really, when you've decided to give the day over, i think the rest of it works itself out. quite beautifully in fact.

from my own porch i see the lilacs bursting forth, putting on their annual show. one of the best in the business. blink and you'll miss it. blink and they are already turning brown. the show that we bought the accompanying house for just to be sure we had front row seats for the rest of eternity.

i see the last of the pie cherry in all its fading glory, still holding its own against the lilacs. the apple blossoms are readying themselves, getting all primped backstage, waiting for their curtain call.

and the tulips are just doing what the tulips do best. brazenly turning themselves face up and seeking to soak in as much of the sun and sky and air as they can take.

what more could you ask for? well, maybe a sweetie to share the wine and the afternoon with? someone else who could really care as less as you do for what the food plan may be?

this wine is flirty and it's fun. the perfect color of a blushing cheek, bringing to mind those days before. days that afforded an afternoon spent on a front porch with a sweetie, without any sense of the passage of time, without even having to carve it out. without having to ask.

this wine makes a girl want to hike up her skirt a little more and soak up a little sun of her own. and sitting on her own porch she can do just that, and whatever else she wants.

and at 2.97 a bottle (and no, that's not a mistype. crazy, huh?) this wine can do all of the above, the fancy themed parties or the day on the porch, for the best price a girl could ask for. seriously, this is a stock up price for the season. and that's not the sale price either.

buy a bunch for the party and steam off the labels and add your own. a picture of you and your sweetie and your wedding date. a baby's footprint and due date. a beautiful picture of your yard for your spring/summer garden luncheon. or don't. the color is so pretty that just the naked bottles on the table or ice bucket or bucket of ice would be striking, too.

whatever you do, the effort you make, or don't, will be richly rewarded with a glass or two of this wine.

i know times are tough, and getting tougher all the time. all the better reason to purchase some cheap, yet delicious, wine and gather people together. or even just that one special one. even if that one special one is you.

me? the first possible afternoon i have i'm going to gather my own sweetie, the galvanized bucket from the shed (i'll give it a good rinse out), some ice, and a few bottles of this wine.

and we're going to sit on the porch here at the big red house and drink this wine from our wedding jelly jars and count our blessings. and i cannot imagine, as the afternoon fades away and the early evening comes on slowly, that we will possibly run out of blessings to count.

go ahead. pour your own glass and count your own blessings.

celebrate your one beautiful life.

x.