Swinging on a Grape Vine

If you are looking for a fun wine with an artistic label, try Gala Rouge's Pinot Noir. I admit, it was the fifth bottle opened tonight at a dinner party. But I've had it before. I was first attracted to it at a wine expo at Mohegan Sun. At a wine expo you are thinking, or at least I was, "Oooooh , lots of free wine!" What caught my eye for Gala Rouge was the postcard they were giving away with a copy of their label art. It is a Moulin-rouge-style dancer flying gloriously on a swing. You look at it and think, "I want to be that carefree. I want to be on a swing. I NEED that wine!"

How much of wine sales are attributed to label design? Even with my VERY limited knowledge of wines, a good label will get me to try something new.

But can you trust a cute label? Are looks everything? In this case, yes. Easy-drinking, smooth, Gala Rouge (rhyme totally intended).

I'm sorry this is a short post, it was a fun dinner party, but Gala Rouge's Pinot Noir goes for around $9.99 and is definitely worth a try. If you don't like it, peel off the label and stick it on your wall.

Knock on Wood

I recently had a conversation with a fellow grape nut about why I hate Chardonnay. Okay, let me qualify that. I dont HATE Chardonnay. I can appreciate it under the right circumstances and paired with the right food. What I don't like is OAKY Chardonnay. For those of you who are new to the wine world, you may not know that wines, both red and white, are often stored and aged in oak barrels. This gives the wine a woody, vanilla taste that adds complexity. It's also more complicated than that, has something to do with the barrels letting in a certain amount of oxygen. But the gist is that when Chardonnay is stored in oak barrels, it takes on a buttery vanilla flavor. Blech! It can be California or French oak. French is more subtle, doesn't completely overpower the flavor of the wine. (Yay France!) But oak does have its place, and I can even appreciate it in a red wine. Unlike poor defenseless white, red wine has a stronger flavor and can stand up to pushy oak. The conversation about Chardonnay started because a friend had left half a bottle in my fridge after a girls' night. Now that I've knocked on wood (pun totally intended), I admit that the conversation ended with me saying "But I'm still going to drink it. It's still better than soda."