Que Shiraz, Shiraz...

... whatever will be, will be...

Let's all sing!

Actually, let's not. Tonight's blog is about wine. Because I cannot live by food alone.

I like wine. I don't claim to love it, nor do I claim to know much about appreciating it, selecting it, or gods-forbid, collecting it. Wine is not something to collect. We could all be dead tomorrow. Buy it, drink it, enjoy it. There's a good chance we only get one shot at life, so let's live it up.

Alrighty then, why am I talking about it? Because dinner was Leftovers Soup, with gluten-free biscuits that didn't really work out. Nothing to talk about, unless you want a review of Miss Roben's biscuit mix, which I will just quickly say isn't worth your money.

So... on to the wine.

I am too much an amateur to pass such judgments. Technically. But I will anyway. If you get a chance to buy Shiraz from Chile, if you see it on the shelf in the store and wonder to yourself "Self, I wonder if Chile is a good region for Shiraz? Does the climate there draw the proper nuances from soil and grape?" The answer you should give yourself is "No." And walk on down the aisle. Australia does good things with Shiraz. Other places, where it's called Syrah, can be nice.

I had just finished off a bottle of my 'rooster wine', which is a lovely, bargain-priced French red blend. Nothing too bold, goes nicely with everything. Does not challenge the palate. And that's a good thing. It has flavor, don't get me wrong... it's just not a thinking wine. It's a drinking wine. So, I'd just had that when I thought to myself "Self, I wonder what I should drink next?" I poured over my wine cellar (ok, I walked across the room and looked at the wine on top of the bar) and selected this Shiraz. Because I like Shiraz. My so-far favorite reasonably-priced wine of all is a Shiraz-Pinotage blend, the best of both worlds. So, yeah, I know that I like Shiraz.

But not this Shiraz. No, the Castillo de Molina Shiraz is just... too harsh. Too bold. Makes my tongue feel funny. All very snooty wine-appraising terms, I know. I'm not sure what to do with the rest of the bottle. "Cook with it" is my usual answer, but I don't think I want to concentrate these flavors. They're already too-concentrated.

Maybe I'll save it for when I've had too much of something else and don't have many taste buds left.