Chianti is for Lovers . . . errr candles too 02/14/2010
'tis Karen, gonna jump start here without Dillon, but I believe it will be okay. The reason is because my refrigerator is being a total idiot; yes you heard that right, the refrigerator! I decided to set my own mood for the evening complete with fruit, cheese my own little set up of things. See how it goes. My brand is BELL'AGIO Chianti. Gosh, the name reminds me of a B Italian western movie. Then on the other hand it sounds rather like an opera. Since I think the vino was a bit over-priced I think I'll go with the opera; sounds good to me. Bottle opened!!! Love the cork, looks branded and painted, but just wondering if the straw around the bottle is real…hmmmmm, that's gonna bug the heck outta me. Wish Dillon was here he'd know. Okay I'll quit being so nit-pickin and get on with the drinkin'. It’s pretty good, well very good actually. I don't think I've had Chianti since the early seventies; which reminds me of a fond Chianti memory. I had a sorta-kinda boyfriend (you know what I mean, been hanging out together, smooched a little but really don't know where you stand sorta-kinda thing). His name was Steve, was somewhat new in town. He had a bottle of Chianti and we decided to visit some of my hippie friends. We were so young we felt very grown up to have our own bottle. We had to show off a little too, being so "grown up". Anyway, off we went to visit my old hippie friends who were 'bout 30ish, but to us that was old. Oh, the innocence of youth. The atmosphere was most congenial, music BLARING, tie-dyed this, tie-dyed that, incense and a few other ummm accoutrements. It seemed like back then everyone drank Chianti, honestly, I think it was because the bottles were cool. It does seem to me that the straw was multi-colored, but that could have been the psychedelic lights (I kid you not). Even at that age, I could find the sub-culture in this po-dunk town. I don't mean sub-culture in an ugly way - I love my hippies...only thing wrong is that too many have gone. Ok, back to the Chianti. We offered to share but this one fellow persistently kept saying "make your own memories". Seems as if everywhere we looked there were wine bottles dripping with candle wax, layers and layers. Didn’t matter what color, seemed the more the better. We had to get going since it was getting late 'bout 10 p.m. (Golly that's really funny to me now. Generally that's about the time I wake up these days!) We still had a bit of wine, a candle, and a memory to make. A few days later we got together, drank the rest of the bottle, put the candle in the top and watched it burn til late in the evening (that must have been til around 11). By now he was my boyfriend. I think you can read between the wines (pun intended). Oh we made some memories alright!!! We got married, my Daddy politely left the shotgun at home, (actually he forgot it). We had two really wonderful kids and today we have wonderful grandchildren. We eventually divorced; maybe it was because we forgot to take the time to drink a little Chianti now and then. I think I really love this vino. While I'm in this wine-glowey mood, I'd like to thank the hippie wherever he may be, for the candle; and a very Happy Birthday this month to my daughter Ash. Cheers ya'll, love Karen Dillon here … This month has been busy with other areas of BandVino like Wine Spikes, Acoustic Uncorked questions etc. so I basically put the blog on Karen. I did this with the utmost confidence because Karen doesn’t ever, and I mean ever have a boring story and … well, she is a true connoisseur of wine. She genuinely has a lifetime of wine-drinking experiences and she has a way of making each experience memorable. She has reminded me several times what different labels looked like on wine from the 70’s, 80’s . . . she would describe them to me and by golly I would search on the web and sure enough – there it would be just as she described. When she told me she wanted to taste and talk about Chianti I have to admit I cringed a little. Ok a lot. My first thought was, it’s red. My second thought was do they make Chianti in a white. Because we picked a red last month and she found that red in a rose'. Could I be so lucky? I’m what you would call a wine sissy. That’s right, I admit it. So here we are back to a red wine. My tongue and red wines do not get along. I humbly agreed to the Chianti because I knew my wife and I had a cute little stubby, basket coated bottle of Chianti that we have been dragging around for years. All I had to do was open that sucker up and taste it. Well, did I mention my wife loves Chianti? She does, and somewhere in time she popped the top off that bottle of Chianti and drank it right under my nose. I probably didn’t notice because of my mental block towards red wine. I looked for it for an entire day before I finally asked her where it was. She casually replied with, “Ooooh, I drank that a while ago when we had pizza delivered.” As I suspected, right under my nose. I purchased a new bottle of Chianti and tasted it. I probably enjoy opening corked bottles more than I do drinking them since we were given an electric cork getter-outer by a friend. It’s like a power drill for wine corks. I learned a while back to let red breathe and I know Karen told me she had let hers vent while she prepared her meal. (vent is good, cracked me up) I actually aerated mine so I wouldn’t have to wait to taste it. I found it a bit dry and flat. I didn’t really taste any grapes due to the burning sensation from the back of my throat reversing up thru the inside of my nose, honestly had the sip been a bit larger I probably could have spewed fire from my nostrils. I’m trying hard to heighten my wine senses so that I can enjoy all wine with the same gusto that Karen or any other professional wine drinker does, but I do struggle past the initiation of burning out the insides of my virgin nostrils. Seriously though, I could see where it would have been a better experience had I prepared things like Karen. While chatting on the phone today, she explained to me everything she did preparing for this wine experience. She explained it with such enthusiasm how she had opened her wine, and while it was “venting” she prepared her cheese and fruit plate. I actually feel now I will have to get another bottle of Chianti and “set the mood” if you will. She helped me realize something I’ve always missed about wine. It’s not really always the taste of wine that matters, but the ambience at the time of your experience that connects it together for the best memory you could ever ask for. Excuse me now while I use my “bad experience” Chianti bottle as a candle holder and set the mood for Valentine’s Day with my wife, a new bottle of Chianti, grapes, cheese and new memories. Dang it! Hey honey…where’s that bottle of Chianti? Ooops she did it again….but I already ate the Cheetos…so I guess we’re even. Cheers, Dillon CommentsLeave a Reply |   Psychedelic Wine Spike Dillon LaBonte
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