¶ I've never been a "wine person," but I fear a change of malevolent subtlety is underway.
¶
¶ On Sunday I stopped by Sam's wine barn off North Ave. to look for honey wine (or mead) but ended up buying a bottle of Spanish red. If you haven't been to Sam's, it's gigantic _ laid out like a Home Depot, but instead of dry wall there are racks and racks of WINE.
¶
¶ A large part of Sam's patrons are middle-aged men who troll the narrow aisles with shopping carts, stopping to pick up a bottle, scrutinize the label and toss it in the basket.
¶
¶ In the company of my Old Style swilling buddies I often decried the wine people's dalliance as "bourgeois." But when we cracked open that bottle of Spanish red, something happened.
¶
¶ "Light. Fruity. You could even call it sweet," I muttered. "Supple. Flexible. Hints of wild flowers."
¶
¶ Erika rolled her eyes. I was smitten.
¶
¶ And there, you see, my problem started. I fear it won't be long before I take a cart from the rack at Sam's and wheel it around, surveying with care the Cabernets, the Bordeauxs, the Mosels, the Muscats and the German dessert wines.
¶
¶ Soon I'll be sharing my love with the world in that peculiar way wine people do.
¶ _At dinner:
¶
¶ Erika: This is a pretty good wine. Do you like it?
¶
¶ Mark: I feel its smoky highlights would better accompany, say, a summertime pasta dish or perhaps Middle Eastern. But I suppose a mismatch for a quick dinner is forgivable.
¶
¶ (Silence)
¶
¶ _OR at lunch in the office district:
¶
¶ Cook: Make it two polishes. Cheese fries. Okay, what'll you have, pal?
¶
¶ Mark: Actually, I'm torn. What do you think goes with a blush Chablis? Grilled ham and cheese or the Italian beef/Polish combo with hot peppers?
¶
¶ (Silence)
¶
¶ Needless to say, the cook at Big Herm's Deli couldn't share my passion... but did he have to break my glasses?
¶
¶ Maybe this glass of '01 San Rosalves will dull the ache. Better make it two. It goes well with Advil.
¶