(Pardon me for starting
this wine after that
low ALC Austrian rosé.)

I started the day with
good intentions and
actually accomplished
some things only
an option trader could
appreciate.

And then…

I unscrewed this puppy.

I’m not sure I want
to take the first sip.

This thing smells
SO GOOD.

It’s not because it
smells like something
I like.

It’s because I CAN’T
FIGURE IT OUT.

Will the first sip spoil
the allure?

Will it taste as good
as I imagine?

I DON’T KNOW.

I just keep smelling it.

I’m expecting a nutty
astringency like pecan
shells.

I knew it. I could “smell”
the alcohol!!! 14.5% is way
out of my comfort zone.

How did I get home with
this one?

It’s getting hard to
refrain from sipping.

Here goes…

A bit milkier than I like
and BAM.

Massive HEAT. I just
don’t like that.

We’ll see how this goes.

If it’s not Mrs. Paul’s…

This wine DOES have
CONSIDERABLE REDEEMING
QUALITIES, but I will
have trouble enjoying then.

How does PN get so HOT
in a cool growing environment?

100% sunshine perhaps.

Where’s the fog and low
hanging clouds when you
need them?

Obviously in my head.

No matter, I’ll play around
with lighting the air coming
out of my nostrils as I exhale.

Now that I’m having fun,
I might as well ENJOY the
wine.

It won’t take much of it
to change my mood.

St. Peter: How did you
enjoy your stay on Earth.
OTWN: The nights were
kind of cold.
SP: Didn’t you find
that Chilean PN we sent
you?
OTWN: Yeah, but I drank it in
August. In Kansas.
SP: Go stand in the corner.
OWTN: What? With all those
beer drinkers?

And then there is the
issue of this wine being
a “reserva”.

TO ME, this means that the
wine has been abused
for an excessively long
period of time as a
punishment for committing
SOME KIND of wine crime.

Judge: You have been charged
with becoming overly ripe.
How do you plead?
Chilean PN Grape: Guilty.
Judge: What do you have to
say for yourself.
CPNG: I couldn’t help it.
I was planted in full sun.
Judge: I sentence you to
six months in French oak.
And after that, a discounted
retail release in Siberia
as community service.
CPNG: Whew, thanks. I thought
you might make me move to
New Zealand.

Having made fun of this
wine until it’s intoxicating
effects took hold of me,
I now shift my attention
to ACTUALLY APPRECEIATING it.

The “aromatics” are STUNNING.

And maybe that French oak
gives the wine a bit of
smoothness to go with the
astringency.

If you can think of
a wine cellar as a
“correctional facility”,
then what does that say
about Gamay?

Tomorrow is going to be
a better day for this wine.

………

Day Two…

Hitting a brick wall always
feels better when you know
it’s coming.

Perhaps if I didn’t “detect”
the alcohol, and perhaps if
I couldn’t look at the REALLY
HUGE number on the bottle, then
MAYBE I would not have been
“put off”.

But I did detect it and the
bottle does declare it.

IT’S NOT MY FAULT.

Still, it looks like I’m
going to survive two days
of this one and will come
out of the experience with
an enhanced committment to
stay away from the fire breathers.

Day Three…

I didn’t survive.

I’m taking a day off.

Sheesh.

Hang in there.