This blasted arctic vortex [or whatever new name the Weather Network people have created] has just about done me in. I need some sun and some summer now.
So I’ve adopted the following coping mechanisms
1. Watched a PBS documentary on the French Rivierra while…
2. Eating a delicious rabbit and black truffle pâté and …
3. Drinking a perfectly delightful [and on sale] Bordeaux
CHATEAU TIMBERLAY
LCBO 30072 | Price $ 13.95
I would like to do my own rant about the mail service in Canada. Specifically the volume of email that gets sent to me . Today I came home to find 38 unread emails. 38! Those are just the ones that made it past my Spam and Bulk filters – that my wife hadn’t read already. I’ve had enough. So here goes …
Dear J. Crew, stop sending me three emails at 5 a.m. and then again at 7:30 a.m. That is not the one ankle boot I need this year.
Dear Apple Store, stop making your email come up a different colour than all the rest. It freaks me out that only you can do that.
Dear eBay, I’ve NEVER purchased anything from you ever. How did you even get my email?
Dear FaceBook, stop changing your settings every 3 hours – I’m again getting notifications from people I unfriended a year ago [sorry Mom]
And hey Starbucks … if one more 50% off my favourite latte coupon gets sent my way today and I’m sending 50% of my next latte across your cafe floor.
Thank you for listening.
PS – my apologies to those who expected something about wine in this edition of my wine blog
PSS – brother in Spain, you’re welcome for not saying anything about wine in this edition of my wine blog
PSS – my wife wouldn’t let me say anything bad to the people at Pinterest
You know it’s cold out when the Kelvin scale makes more sense than the Celsius scale [Fahrenheit is just another German word that makes me giggle]. It’s 240 Kelvin tonight by the way.
How on earth is a man supposed to warm up on a night like this? It’s hard to think clearly when I’m mad at the fact that tomorrow is my garbage day and global warming is clearly just a left-wing conspiracy designed to get me to stand in the cold, sort my garbage and freeze my right-wing off.
Thankfully brother-in-law from PA thought ahead and bought me a nice bottle of Port for Christmas. If you don’t drink port then it’s time to make and keep a resolution to do so in 2014.
Noval Black isn’t available at the LCBO but they have a nice selection nonetheless. Photographic proof is shown below. Start with a ruby port, or a late bottled vintage if you can get one. They run under $20 and can warm you up for an extended period of time!
And using “nonetheless” more often in casual conversation was another one of my new year’s resolutions. Hooray for 2014.
I recently heard New Years Resolutions referred to as a “to-do” list for the first week of January. Personally, I love the NYR.
I’ve been asking around to see if any people have NYRs concerning wine drinking and buying. Here are the responses I received.
Editor of a “large” metropolitan newspaper, “I resolve to find ‘the’ wine that both my wife and I enjoy.” My solution – stop trying to find a wine you both enjoy and open 2 bottles.
Linktrap John, “Pay attention to food and wine pairings chocolate” – and then he sent me a photo of a Merlot with a Toblerone. Sorry John, I can’t help you.
My brother-in-law, “Drink more of your wine ” – Hey, I may borrow that and try and drink more of other people’s wines too.
My daughter, “Dad, I don’t even drink wine” – fair enough.
This year I resolve to drink more Rioja, Côtes du Rhône, and Australian Shiraz. Like my friend Rob said, “Hey, those our resolutions every year?” – fair enough.
What are your resolutions?
Travis Oke is a high school teacher by day and a wine writer by night. His blog appears in the online edition of the Guelph Mercury.
Pull the cork 