“Garçon, il y a une mouche!”

The best way to wreck a joke is either to mess up the timing, or to get the words wrong.  Last week i was reminded of the classic, “waiter, there’s a fly in my soup” joke.

Except that’s not how the joke goes! “Waiter, what’s this fly doing in my soup?” is the delivery — opening up the waiter to so many funny lines including, the back stroke, treading water, etc. The pun is in the word “doing”.

That’s me Blogsplaining – fun right?

Last week I found this little guy in my rosé.  What was he doing in my glass of wine I asked myself?  I’d say he was enjoying himself immensely.  Let’s put it this way, when was the last time you found a fly in your water?  Flies have discerning taste – why would they waste their precious tiny life span on water when there’s a delicious rosé to be had. I admire his commitment to the wine – no sipping, full immersion.  So while you can attract more flies with honey, you can’t teach them to drink. I gently lifted monsieur la mouche out of the glass and let him stumble around on my counter until he dried up and flew away. I suppose I should have called an Uber.

The wine was Muga rosé, or rosado in Spanish, and was delicious. It always is. There’s a new lot just in at the LCBO and it’s a perfect mid-summer drink – just ask monsieur la mouche, an insect of discerning taste.

Muga Rosé 750 mL bottle  |   VINTAGES#:  603795

$15.95

LCBO tasting notes – This blend of Garnacha, Viura and Tempranillo is a classic rosé from Muga. It features impressive tangy red berry, citrus, peach and rosewater tones in a lively, fresh package. A wine that will show tremendous versatility with food. Try it with seafood, salads, grilled chicken or even burgers.

 

Canada Day in photos

Instead of writing about Canada Day i’ve turning this wine blog into a photo blog. It really is easier to write than using my words.

Lunch at Artisinale – French rosé and Tawse Riesling with our first course.

Crêpe and Calvados for dessert.

 

Dinner BBQ at home with Muskoka 20th Anniversary Cream Ale aged in Oak.

Happy Canada Day

Decision Time

This summer I plan to make no decisions – and to renew that vow daily.  So I’ll let others make them for me – lessening the weight of responsibility that i might otherwise feel when it’s summertime and the living’s supposed to be easy.

Decisions like which wine to open.

Fortunately I prepare for such life altering occasions by keeping a light red, and full-bodied rosé [or rosado in this case] and a crisp white in the fridge. So that when the wife gets home [don’t worry “Mad Max fans”  I asked her permission to call her “the wife” this one time so don’t go all Furiosa on me] she has an easy choice. Because really it’s a win-win-win decision [and no M I don’t mean open all three].

She chose.

And she wins.

The Red … Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais $11 on sale—LCBO#: 212480   |   Light, berries, cherry, easy drinking … please serve chilled.

The Pink … Muga Rose $14 —VINTAGES#: 603795   |   Seriously, i get zero kickback from the people at Muga … i just love this wine so much and it’s a better choice than those suckers who are drinking water.

The White …Marques de Riscal White, Rueda  $12 —LCBO#: 36822   |   Crisp, acidic, medium body, I say it tastes like rhubard, my wife says Lychee – I admit lychee sounds far cooler.

Hyperbole

Its that time of year again where I address my concerns to the majority of the population who still think it’s a good idea to drink water – a myth exaggerated and perpetuated by what Fox News is now calling the “Water Right”. 

These water people like sticking to “tried and true” health practices .  I hear things like “if water was good enough for my grandmother …”. I remind these people that gramma readily  consumed Mercury to cure anything for a scraped knee to muscle pain. 

Me, I like to approach this not as an historian, or even a scientist, but rather as a fear-mongering blogger.  Who in their right mind ingests an odourlesss, colourless, tasteless liquid?  Especially when there are several excellent bottles of flowery, salmon-hued, delicious chilled bottles of rosé that are good for you.

Also, the few times I’ve tried to “hydrate” myself I found that I needed to pee frequently – Travis doesn’t need that again.

My prescription this summer is Muga rosado.  Available at the LCBO for under $14. It seems like a wise choice to me. Hopefully someday one of my grandchildren will be heard saying “if it was good enough for my grandpa …”

     

Summer wines

Drinking rosé this summer? We do in France.

Cold Spell – Why I married ma femme

The weather couldn’t be cooperating less these days.  It should be stinkin’ hot outside and I should be sipping rosé.  My well laid plans seem to have been spoiled by something called a “Northern low”  brought down by the “Jet Stream”, or whatever the Weather Network people are talking about.

Last night I sat in my living room, windows open, cold evening air coming in to an already cool house.  “Is it even warm enough to open that rosé chilling in the fridge?” I asked my wife.

“Close the windows and open the rosé” was her response.  I did marry her for her problem solving skills.

LA VIEILLE FERME COTES DU VENTOUX ROSE*
LCBO 622134 | SEASONAL/LIMITED QUANTITIES
Price $ 10.95

Water. Again?

Water.  Some say it’s healthy for you – some say it’s dangerous [maybe that’s just me trying again to get you to drink rosé].

On the internet I found a site called webMD [whatever that’s supposed to mean] that gave me 6 “Health Benefits” of Water. It was written by a “water” person who calls herself Kathleen M. Zelman  MPH, RD, LD [what the heck kind of degrees are those and why so secretive about your middle name?]

She makes the outrageous claim that drinking water can affect the saliva levels in your mouth [come on] and then gets into the scare tactics from there – mentioning such things as kidneys and bowels in order to frighten you. Why doesn’t she try the “everyone else is doing it” argument?

Let’s look at this realistically.  I haven’t talked to one rational person who would put an odourless, colourless, tasteless liquid in their mouth unless it was a dare.

This summer I’m drinking rosé if I’m thirsty.  That’s what a rational person would do.

Note from the author – This is my 4th attempt in 4 years to use scare mongering tactics to convince people to drink rosé. You can see my other attempts here.

2010       2011         2012

A rather complicated source

Sometimes the stories behind a wine are just as interesting as the wine itself. Often they are better. James in Paris hooked me up with these two bottles.

The rosé from an Albanian friend who distributes for Famille Sumeire – a small family winery in Provence. The 1998 Reserva Rioja from an Irishman living in Paris who collected this bottle while living in Spain. He gave it to James in Paris as a thank you for helping him move the contents of his cellar (or “cave” as the French have it) two blocks down the road to his new home.

Both were fantastic wines. Why I ended up with them is simply a story of generosity. Thanks James in Paris.

And thanks Brother in Spain who cooked this canard for me in Paris to enjoy with the wine.

Water – I’m not convinced

For the past 3 years I have tried to point out the insanity of drinking water instead of rosé.  Odourless, colourless, tasteless?  Who puts that in their body?  This is what my new research on the internet has found – and it wasn’t easy to research as most sites still tell you that water is good for you.

1. Water contains bacteria – eek
2. A woman lost her sight drinking too much water – that’s one too many for me
3. The human body is mostly water already – so why waste your time
4. Water vapour is invisible as a gas – it may be around you and you don’t even know it!
5. The water molecule carries a slight negative charge – NEGATIVE CHARGE!

If those 5 facts, from internet sources including Wikipedia, don’t convince you then maybe the Vintages annual release of Spanish rosado – Muga – will.

MUGA ROSÉ 2011
VINTAGES 603795
Price: $ 12.95
Made in: Rioja, Spain
By: Bodegas Muga S.A.
Release Date: May 12, 2012

Photo Blog

These are my favorite #wine #photos (a little twitterspeak for you tweeters) of the past 2 years since I began PulltheCork.

Rosé de Provence on the beach in Antibes

Fino Sherry with Almonds in my Brother in Spain's terrace

Basket outside the cheese shop (fromagerie) in France

Espresso in Spain - my other love