"As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans."
Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
Any other dudes enjoy a glass, bottle, flagon, hogshead, or such of wine after a long day slaving away for the man? I do. But, here's the shits of it: I don't want to drop big bank on something fancy, not knowing whether I'll like it. So, I figure if anyone else is interested we can share recommendations for good, moderately-priced, bottles and our thoughts on how/whether/to what degree wine can improve life and our dudeist pursuits.
The wife recently picked up some Coppola Claret (2015). It was a good call. Granted, she knew the bottle well. We'd drained the purplish inky elixir from many of its brethren before discarding their chrysalis shells.
It's a tasty red blended, to me, similarly to some of the great, cheap, local reds the French drink. The reviews say there's plum, blackberry, and cherry on the palate...but I don't get all that. Well, blackberry, but an equal measure of alcohol (hey, it's 13.5%), tannin, toasted oak, and pepper. It's like $15-$18. Great with any red meat and, based on tonight, not bad with reheated lime-pepper chicken wings, either.
I'm not generally fond of the celebrity-wine thing. They're usually over-priced and under-performing exercises in marketing. But, man, Coppola seems to be all about the wine. Or maybe he hired a great team. But this works, particularly in comparison to other reds available at the price.
I enjoy any sort of booze after a long day of doing anything. I'm not too into wine, but a glass now and then is very nice. I'm no expert though so I can't say I appreciate it on any level but "yup this is wine". I do love rum the best. A shot of rum and a dark beer is my go-to favorite.