Albert Einstein & Speedy Gonzales

I should let you know right now that this blog post has absolutely nothing to do about wine. That should make brother-in-Spain happy. This is a behind the scenes look at my wine blog – because as usual something else has distracted me from writing about wine.

Internet search engine statistics are a fascinating thing.  Just this past week 14 people in Egypt had nothing better to do but look at my wine blog.  Are they even paying attention to what’s happening outside their own homes?

Also, over the past year the top 3 search words that get people to my blog are …

1. Albert Einstein

2. Gooseberries

3. Speedy Gonzales.

It’s true.

I’m thinking of printing off bumper stickers. “Einstein and Speedy Gonzales love gooseberries” – that should drive traffic to my site.

Speaking of traffic – here are my stats as of this week.  It’s 90 thousand people more than I thought would ever read something I wrote.

Taste Memory

My two strongest memories from this summer’s Spanish vacation are of the delicious red wine we drank and the 15 dogs that barked me awake at 3:30 each morning. Perros estúpidos!

Taste memories are strong. So this week I’ve been blocking the dog/sleep thing by focusing on the red wine.  Problem is that there is no Mercadoña or Carrefour to visit where I can buy Rioja for 2 €. Sad, but I am up for the LCBO challenge of finding a great inexpensive wine from Spain.

After trying 3 “good looking” red wines the winner was clear. Beronia is a dry, hot summer in your mouth (in a good way). It just became this year’s house wine in Casa Oke.

BERONIA TEMPRANILLO RIOJA
LCBO 243055 | Price: $ 11.25

4 for 4

Last night I opened a dangerous highly pressurized bottle of bubbly with the back of an equally dangerous 10″ chef’s knife.  This marked the first tine I’ve sabred Cava (Spanish champagne) on this continent.  I’ve learned that the secret is to NOT tell your wife about your intentions as apparently “that sounds really dangerous”.  Thanks again Brother-in-Spain for getting me started. I am 4 for 4 on first attempts.

If I can ever figure out how to get the people from YouTube over to my house I will get this on video the next time.

I should probably consult my lawyer friends and put some sort of disclaimer here about not trying this at home – but you know …

Wine education

I’ve said it before – if we could overhaul our education system and teach people the irreducible essentials of wine then people would be happier.  Let’s build a world that is not fooled by clever wine names  (Goats do Roam)  or cute labels.  Kangaroos chasing little penguins are next on a label believe me and it won’t stop there.

This isn’t really a rant – or is it – but I think if people knew some basics about wine then it would make life easier both at the LCBO and in front of the waiter in a restaurant.

Next time you go to the your local wine store – or a local restaurant – get yourself a Côtes du Rhône.  It’s a red wine, it’s from France, and it pairs with most food.  Lightly chill it (20 minutes in the fridge) and get at it.

With French roosters on the label it has to be good French wine

LA VIEILLE FERME COTES DU LUBERON
LCBO 298505 | 750 mL bottle Price: $ 10.95
Limited Time Offer
Was: $ 11.95
Now: $ 10.95
Save: $ 1.00 
Until Sep 16, 2012

Harvest Time

Autumn is a food lover’s paradise with everything is being harvested directly to my plate.  I couldn’t be happier.  Grapes too are being harvested and will turn into wine soon enough.  That’s not soon enough!  What’s a guy to do to fill in the gaps?

Muskoka Brewery is doing their best to reach out to impatient wine drinkers with the release of their Harvest Ale today in LCBO stores.  This is not an ale for the light palate. It’s not quite as hoppy as their Mad Tom but it is full of spruce and pine aromas.  My wife’s first response to tasting it – “That’s delicious”.  A strong endorsement indeed. Our next bottle is being paired with a blue cheese.

Harvest Ale is bottled in a 750 mL swing top bottle to encourage sharing.  Anybody else a little bored bringing flowers or wine to a dinner party?  I think this is a great alternative. As my brother-in-law said, “This is a great gift to bring to a BBQ – to straighten out those wine snobs”.  I hope he meant me.

Check out the food pairing ideas at the Muskoka Brewery website.