I’m home alone tonight, waiting to hear if I’ve got a bite for my dinner invitation. I’m not very hopeful.
When I arrive home, More-ey’s girl, Sunshine, she’s made the house smell like garlic and tomatoes and pasta sauce. More-ey wanders in with this this long french bread baguette that he and his girl are going to do something with. There’s a baguette, chicken, tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms… I don’t think it’s Coq Au Vin, but it might be.
mmm… maybe I’ll need to get in on that action.
More-ey asks me if I want to try this Merlot that he’s picked up at the Sausalito Market (46 Caledonia, Sausalito, right by the fire station). I’ve told him in the past that it’s pretty damn easy to make a decent Merlot. He takes a sip, makes a face, and says “Well, it was only four bucks.”
Four bucks?
Four bucks? Give me a glass!
I never thought I’d say this: this Merlot is terrible. I honestly didn’t think you could make a terrible Merlot. When I went to make my own wine instead of beer, the guy in the store said “Look, get the kit and make Merlot the first time. It’ll turn out good.”
Now, I don’t want to be mean. It’s not vinegar. It won’t make you hurl. Or swear off wine forever.. But there’s nothing to it. It tastes tired. It’s got loads of tannins and it’s really acidic without the benefit of any balancing elements. I’ve paid half a euro for better table wine in Spain. I’ve also paid a euro for worse wine, so I guess that’s not saying much. I guess this is the sort of wine you’d get watered down in France as a schoolboy.
In public school.
In a poor parish.
So, it’s OK.It’s a little better if you follow my favorite-ever aeration method that I got from a Spanish waiter: Pop the cork, pour out the taste, put the cork back in and shake the hell out of it– get that oxygen all the way through it until it’s all frothy.
It really does work. It just doesn’t have the panache of that $180 leaded glass decanter that your friends gave you for Christmas a few years back. But when you’re six bottles in at a dinner party, that’s what you wanna do. You don’t wanna go fiddling with the decanter.
Anyway. This wine? Don’t buy it. Even at four bucks. Unless the only other thing is Estrella.
Even then, you should go to another corner store.