I don't usually buy a bottle of wine here, a bottle of wine there. When I buy wine, I usually go on a shopping spree, if you will - I buy 12 bottles minimum (to get a discount) every 3 months or so. I either visit my favorite local shop, Wine Room of Forest Hills, or we get a ZipCar and trek out to Jersey for Total Wine*. The latter of which we did yesterday.
Dragging a nine-year-old child through Total Wine is a feat, to say the least. Especially since Adam is usually doing his own beer shopping as well - they have an excellent selection. I mean, it is waaaay boring for Bug and I only thank goodness my mom didn't try to do the same thing to us three kids when I was growing up. Can you imagine trying to control an 11-year-old (me), a 9-year-old (my brother), and a one-year-old (my sister) through a wine store?! The sad thing is that my mom probably needed a glass of wine more back then than I do now, dealing with us kids. Anyway...
So I came up with a way to entertain Bug: she gets to pick one bottle that I buy, based on the "prettiness" of the label. And as long as it's affordable. She loves it. She goes through the store, finding the wines she likes, looking for the "maybe" bottles. Yesterday, she found this one:
She saw it and exclaimed - okay, she yelled really loud: "IT'S THE WHOMPING WILLOW WINE!!!!"
As mentioned before, our household is obsessed with all things Harry Potter and this label just screamed Whomping Willow to her. And as luck would have it, I've actually had the Gnarly Head Zin before, as its 1) incredibly affordable, and 2) located in Lodi, CA, very close to where I grew up. It's big and juicy, of course, but it also has a nice earthiness to it that prevents it from being too jammy.
So, yes, dear readers, I have managed to tie together Harry Potter and Zinfandel. Not bad, eh? How's that for tying together children's books and wine?
Eat, drink, and sometimes judge a wine by its label.
* Soooo off-topic but had to share: any time I say "Total Wine" I think of that line from The Breakfast Club. You know the one? "If I lose my temper, man, you're totaled." And Bender replies, "Totally?" Then Emilio Estevez says, "Totally." So I say "Total Wines." Then I expect all of you to reply, "Totally?" I know. Weird. But had to share.
2 comments:
Ahhhh - Bug and I share a common strategy. When in doubt, buy a wine that has a pretty label. So far, it's working for me!
This cracked me up =) hooray for mixing Harry & Vino!
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