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Ongoing Thoughts Five:
By William E. Steinman:
My Love Affair with Wine:
I have had a love affair with wine for many years. I first
discovered it when I was a field serviceman for Bendix
Corporation many years ago. I had to travel about
A person who is determined to be a faithful spouse is in a
dilemma when alone in a strange city. There is nothing to do. By sitting in a
pub drinking, I was getting fat. That became a problem I have
been dealing with ever since. I knew I had to stop that and I did. That
left me sitting in my room watching dumb television shows. That is not much fun
either. For sure, I knew where the nightspots were, but I only tried that a few
times. When I walked in alone, I became a target for the harlots. It is not
that I am particularly attractive. Even when young I was not, but that is not
part of the game. I was a well-dressed traveler alone with some spending money
and as such, I looked like business to the girls. They would not stop hitting
on me.
I never completely solved those problems of being alone on
the road. I just sent many lonely nights alone in a motel room and I did a
great deal of reading. Can you hear the sad violin music? Okay, it was on one
of those trips that I discovered there were other wines besides Manischewitz.
Manischewitz is a sickening sweet concord wine I sometimes drank when I was a
punk kid. It could usually be bought for 79 cents a
bottle at the local drug store and the clerk who sold it winked at the age of a
kid buying it. One time, I drank too much of that stuff and got very ill. I got
the dry heaves and almost heaved my guts out. I did recover, but it was many
years before I could even look at a bottle of wine without getting nauseous.
Much later, while I was on the road, my bosses, in their
infinite wisdom, decided to send a fool along to help me in an installation. He
was not a help, but a hindrance. However, he was a person to talk to, which was
better than an empty room. I was sick of beer and while we were in a nearby
store, on a hunch, I purchase a bottle of burgundy and a large bottle of
Seven-Up.
After dinner, we sat in his room. He drank something while I
mixed this burgundy with soda and sipped it. I realize now that that was a sin,
but I was ignorant at the time. The more of this concoction I drank, the more
reasonable and intelligent this fool became. By the time I went off to my own
room and bed, he seemed like a fine fellow. The next evening I did the same
thing and I discovered the burgundy tasted pretty good without soda. I also
discover it had just as much flavor and lasted much longer when I sipped it.
Remember I was a beer drinker and beer drinkers do not sip. Sipping is an
acquired skill.
Later, at home I discovered burgundy was not the top of the
line for my tastes. I began seeking out wine stores and tried many different
varieties. In case you don’t know, becoming a
wine aficionado can be very expensive. You can easily pay 25 bucks or more for
a bottle of wine with no guarantee it will be
drinkable. I have purchase some excellent wines for 15 bucks and some very bad
wines for 25 bucks in the same store. There is no way of knowing. It is a very
costly crapshoot. Also, at 250 bucks or more a case
you are not inclined to open a bottle with dinner every evening.
Then a friend reintroduced me to the art of wine making. I
had tried it previously and failed. He made an excellent zinfandel and gave me
a bottle out of pity, I guess. At that time, I had some French Hybrid gapes (Baco Noir) growing on my own arbor. He and I both made a
bad batch of wine and both threw it out, but that got me started. You can read
about this adventure in my archives under “Previous Forum” and
“Forum 2006.” Then I discover wine kits. That was
the easy secret I had been looking for. I found I can make two cases of
very good wine with one kit and my cost is less than three bucks a bottle.
Compare that to the cost of 15 to 25 bucks a bottle at the wine store. In
addition, using these kits, I have never made a bad bottle of wine. Every
bottle is very good to excellent. That is because these kits are
made with juice concentrates and blended by experts. They are chemically balanced for a perfect wine every time.
The kits I use are “Vintners Reserve Red Wine
Kits.” These kits allegedly make six gallons of wine. However, on a tip
from the sellers I make five gallons with one kit. That gives me a yield of 25
and 1/2 bottles per kit, a little more than two cases. Now, my wine cellar
makes it look like I am wealthy. I am not, but I eat and drink as though I
were. This does not mean I am a gourmand or a drunk. It is quality not quantity
for us pseudo wealthy folk. With a few years of experience, I have developed my
own list of favorite kits. Here it is.
Barolo is Italian style wine of the Piedmont District in
Red Bordeaux is a French style wine.
Cabernet Sauvignon is also a French style.
Chianti is an Italian style from the Tuscany Region. Again,
it works with anything Italian.
Mezza Luna, as far as I can tell
is Vintners own blend of juices.
Pinot Noir, a French wine is more delicate than most reds.
Zinfandel is made from the
Zinfandel grapes. It is very smooth with good body.
One I have never tried before is Valpolicella.
It is an Italian wine from the
As I said, these are all red wines. I have never developed a
taste for white wines so I cannot comment. Mrs. Gaffer sometimes drinks a white
Zinfandel, but she much prefers the red wines from my cellar.
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