From the Bottle

Some people acquire tastes. I acquired a taste for sushi, however, I was born with a taste for alcohol. Growing up, starting from as far back as I can remember, age three or four, our parents gave us sips from their drinks. Wine, beer, Dewers on the rocks with a splash of soda (or in my mom’s case, soda on the rocks with a splash of Dewers), they exposed our palates to all of it. My sister and I were pretty big fans, but my brother hated it and favored his Strawberry Quick drink – weird.

By the time I left for college, there was certainly nothing to be curious about in terms of drinking, plus I went to school in a dry town, so I left it by the way side. Later on in medical school, I picked it up again, pretty much having an affinity for only wine, beer and Gin & Tonic. At the time, all I could afford was the $4 Trader Joe’s specials, which tasted pretty decent to me, especially after exams. Living in NYC for residency, I traded in my G & T for a cosmopolitan, and started spending a little bit more on wine, especially after a trip to Italy. And ever since residency ended, I’ve stuck almost exclusively to wine and beer. But mostly Wine. And mostly Red.

That was a really good one

I learned it from watching you!

There are a couple parts of my adult life that are a direct result of my dad’s mentorship. In their own ways, they are both “good for you”. The first is running – the thing I HATED in gym class in high school, which is now my go to Natural Prozac activity thanks to Dad’s coaxing on the phone one night when I was homesick my first semester in college. The second is tasting and drinking red wine. My dad has a habit of buying wine by the case. Once his cellar started bursting at the seams, he began rounding up his fellow wine-lover friends to split cases with him when Moore Brothers or WineAccess had some good sales going on. I know when having dinner at my dad’s or going to a BYO with him, we will drink some tasty wine.

I’d done some wine tasting in Napa and a few other places, to the point where I know what I like and what I don’t, but I don’t quite have the knowledge to know when I should bother buying a case of something to store. So a few years ago, Dad added me to the Wine Email list which is when he became my dealer. The wine started piling up, which doesn’t really paint a proper picture when living in a one bedroom apartment. Now there’s more space living in a house, but I’m 3,000 miles away from my dealer, in California, aka, wine country. Left high and dry without my dealer, I’m investigating options.

Red Wine is good for the Soul

With or without the literature to support it’s effect on cardiovascular health, tasting and drinking wine with friends, old and new, is it’s own natural prozac. It’s the center piece of most Girls Nights facilitating all kinds of conversation; it’s the perfect accompaniment to most home-cooked meals; it’s what my friend Sally loves to drink while she’s chopping vegetables, preparing dinner; it is an integral part of a food tour in California’s wine country, France, Italy, Argentina not to mention the perfect conversation starter in bars in Spain; it goes very nicely with a warm night time bath on a chilly night, and finally, red wine is responsible for the beginning of many beautiful friendships. Right here in San Diego County, there are more than 30 vineyards. If you’re buying into this at all, wine tasting is also an awesome date idea and can be pretty romantic. But beware: I tried setting up one of those romantic wine tours through Temecula when we first moved here. Turns out that was more of the wine party bus, but, we found some beautiful scenery and some seriously decent wine, including a lovely Super Tuscan…who knew?

Through a looking glass of another color

Girl and the Fig Girls Day in Sonoma where we shared some:

A delight from Sonoma

California Wine Country

Temecula Wine Tasting

So I really enjoy wine…thank you Dad

To that end, I’d been thinking of acquiring a wine storage unit, temperature controlled. These items are expensive, so after shopping around, my dad suggested looking at the resale market here in Southern California. Low and Behold, – Craig’s List was how we acquired this Wine Fridge from a guy named Terry who took $340 cash for this 150-bottle, perfectly functioning, temperature controlled unit.

“If you’re thinking of purchasing, get your hands on a dolly”

Before we showed up to look at this monstrosity, Terry texted that if we were really interested in purchasing, he recommended bringing a dolly. On our way to check out the wine fridge, we made a pit stop at Padre Fred’s house to choose from his dolly selection and leashes for securing. We arrived with dolly-in-hand, checked out the fridge, and wanted to make it ours. But there was another road block – transporting the fridge home in an upright position – not doable in the Rav-4. We could have borrowed a friend’s pick-up the next day, but Terry wanted it off his hands that night apparently. Terry’s solution? (still don’t know his last name) He lent us, two complete strangers, his truck to bring it home! He even helped us secure it for the 30 minute drive home. I am SOOOO not in Philly anymore. When I handed Terry the key to my car (to hold for collateral), he gave me a funny look, and said “I trust you.” My reply, “Ya know. In case you need to go somewhere.”

Terry was moving to a house that had a large built-in wine fridge (not too uncommon in CA), and so he said “it was either sell it on Craig’s List or give it to my friend who said he’d stick it in his garage and put soda in it.” Terry didn’t like the thought of this wine fridge in his friend’s garage holding soda. Hopefully he’s not reading this blog post only to find out it’s in our garage. But it’s not holding soda. It’s waiting to be filled with delicious wine.

Namaste