Wine

I'm enjoying a glass of wine as I goof around on the computer tonight. I'm no wine expert by any stretch of the imagination. My comments are generally limited to "I like it" or "I don't like it". The one I'm drinking tonight, though, isn't one of my favorites. It's Cap Rock Vintner's Blush. I usually like Texas wines pretty well, and the Cap Rock Blush Royale is excellent, I think. This, though - eh, take it or leave it. It's a little too "something" for my taste - too tart/sour, perhaps? Not like I like *super* sweet wines, but this one has a whang to it. It's paid for, though, and far be it from me to toss wine unless it's *complete* dreck, so I'm drinking it in one of my nice crystal glasses (I've got 'em, might as well use 'em, right?). I'm finishing off the bottle tonight anyway - this glass was the last of it. Next on the to-drink list: an Australian wine, Penfolds Rawson's Retreat Semillon Chardonnay. Mmm, GOOD. And it's a kick-ass strong wine - one glass of it and I'm pretty darned happy, two glasses and I'm downright giddy. Not real expensive, either. I should buy more of that next time I make a booze run (lucky me, to live in a dry county). And when I decide to take a break from wine, I have a bottle of Arrogant Bastard Ale in my refrigerator. Mmm, tasty.

See, this is another change from my youth (although not as much of a change as the change to my ideas on sex and religion). My parents were not drinkers at all - my father had an uncle who was killed by a drunk driver, and he's still very much anti-drinking. He'd choke if he saw the two little wine racks in my house (and the stash of bottles in one of the kitchen cabinets). But I don't see a problem with it, as long as it's just an occasional thing (you may have heard the joke, or maybe not: "Jews don't recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Protestants don't recognize the Pope as the head of the church on earth. Baptists don't recognize each other at the liquor store." My fondness for a good drink now and then - reason #47 why I don't think I should be a Baptist anymore). So I guess it's more a change from my parents' rules to my rules, not so much a change to my way of thinking. I remember driving around in high school, sharing a bottle of Boone's Farm Tickle Pink (boy, I'm probably dating myself with that - what can I say, we were kids, it was cheap) with my girlfriends, or going to buy wine coolers (California Coolers, do they even make those anymore?!) before football games. My parents would have crapped coconuts had they known. Ah, growing up was fun sometimes!