Stop calling me Sherry

If you even suspect that you might be cold this winter then you need to put a bottle of Amontillado within reach.

First made famous by a certain Edgar Allan Poe in his classic story The Cask of Amontillado (published in 1846) and then made slightly less famous in my classic blog post  The Cask of Amontillado (published in April 2010) – which admittedly was mostly about Edgar Allan Poe’s story.

This wine is nutty with a bourbon-like nose  and a steal at under $11.

During the process of making Amontillado the wine is placed in American butts.  It means that they were placed in American oak butts, which really only means American oak barrels but it’s funnier the way I wrote it.

ALVEAR’S AMONTILLADO
LCBO 112789 | Price: $ 10.95
17.0% Alcohol/Vol.

Thanks Edgar for the funny story about revenge, murder, and Amontillado.

The Cask of Amontillado

I hope my brother likes me.

He has promised me a tour of Alvear’s winery in Montilla, Spain, this summer.  But if I’ve learned anything from literature (and I probably haven’t) then I need to be sure I haven’t insulted him gravely – recently.

The Cask of Amontillado is a great short story by Edgar Allan Poe.  It is a story of revenge and murder - set in Spain - with a Cask of Amontillado as the bait.  You may recall that Amontillado is not Sherry, but it’s darn close ( read Amontillado – Surely that’s a Sherry).

The story begins, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” Oh Edgar Allan, I think you know that the only thing more frightening than a raven is revenge.

To make a short story short -  Fortunato’s pride in his ability to tell Amontillado from Sherry is the bait and his downfall. He ends up intoxicated and bricked into a wall in the depths of the wine caves. I supposed in a very real way the bricks are his downfall.

There are several lessons from this story:

1. Don’t be sure you know everything about wine.

2. Don’t drink too much on a wine tour.

3. Fortunato is an ironic name (not bad for a PE teacher).

4. The saying  “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” is just stupid. Look what happened to Fortunato.

Malaga Wine Bar Photo

This summer we have a trip planned for Malaga, Spain.  Here is the Malaga wine bar that my brother is taking me to – Casa de la Guardia. You can see “240″ written in chalk on his table – that is how much he owes – for now. Casks of Sherry in the background, small glasses of sherry in the foreground – mussels too.

 More on Sherry and Amontillado to come! This photo is posted to keep me focused on the prize.

Casa de la Guardia