And Now, Andy Rooney

And now, Andy Rooney:

Did-ya ever go to a festival or fair that had some vendor selling dips and sauces and had samples available on a cracker or one of those fancy long cracker sticks? Some sellers prefer toothpicks. But if I'm sampling without food as a dipper, I prefer using one of those plastic, small, white spoons.

Just sends a nicer message than something I use to pick meat out of my teeth while typing...

These ladies are at the Upton Chutney Chilli Festival sampling unsanitarily from large community bowls.

I certainly hope they took some Tums first. And I hope they don't blow a hole in their sheets later in the evening. 

My favorite thing to sample at an outdoor festival is barbecue sauce. I've found it's pretty hard to screw it up. Even the rather unattractive creations, like mustard-pineapple seemed decent enough on a Wheat Thin. 

I once ate so many mini bread sticks dunked in a variety of barbecue sauces that I felt obligated to buy an over priced bottle. 

It's still sitting on my pantry shelf. 

I think Riesling is similar to barbecue sauce. Some are little better than others. I can certainly tell a difference from one to the next.  But, really, it all tastes pretty good. 

Just this past week, my wife stocked up on a few familiar labels, like J Lohr and:

We even opened the 2011 version of an old favorite Saturday to go along with clams and linguini:

It was a fine meal. Though I found the Monchhof a bit too lively and syrupy.

She also stumbled upon this little gem at BevMo:

For under $8.00, I think we found our summer Riesling, and it's not even May! It was very soft, smooth, not too sweet with a kind honey finish. 

I'm really not sure why so many people try to sell their Riesling at higher prices. Probably to keep the riff-raf drinking something else. Like Charles Shaw. Or Boone's Farm. 

With barbecue sauce, I know I'm perfectly fine with never going for the Stubbs on the top shelf. Sweet Baby Ray's suites me just fine. 

I also know that when I retire, I'm going to pursue the safest job in America: a barbecue sauce flavored Riesling maker. 

Join us next week for another addition of "60 Minutes."

Hear Ye!

2011 Garnacha de Fuego Old Vines ($6.99) 
92 Points - Robert Parker

I cooled on this wine as I was not a fan of the '10. I picked up the 2011 a month ago and was really, really impressed. On my next Total Wine trip, I was disappointed to find they were sold out of the 2011. Thankfully, last week, Hi Times had plenty.

Just finished a bottle and gotta say, I dare any of you to find a better wine, not only under $7, but under $15, maybe $20. Pats on my own back for loving it before Parker validated my opinion.

Really nice dark fruit flavor and a super long spicy, racy finish. Wow. Real nice!

Seriously, at $6.99, stock up!

Grade: B+

The Man in Black

I had big plans, man. BIG plans. Here, take a listen to get ya in the mood: 

We decided Saturday was gonna be salmon night. Which was a deliberate move on my part to crack the bottle of:

Black Kite 2010 Pinot Noir Kite's Rest ($45) 

Note my awesome photo skillz. On the left, no flash; on the right, yep, flash. See the bird's eyes? Cool, huh?

But before we got to cracking (literally) this bottle, I decided to finish up this bottle that we started Thursday night.

Little Black Dress 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon ($7.99)

There was nothing special, or wrong for that matter, with this bottle. But because it had "Black" in the title, the lightbulb went off, and BAM, figured I had an idea for a 2nd post in a week. 

The song in my head quickly shifted from Johnny Cash's badassness to

Because when I went to pull off the foil, I did this:

Yikes! This was a first. Before I go bragging about my super powers which include the ability to pull apart glass, I must admit, a few months ago I was rearranging bottles in my super small wine fridge. and because this is a fat Pinot bottle, when I pulled out the bottle below it, this bottle tumbled out. Nothing cracked, nothing spilled so I thought I was in good shape. Fast forward to Saturday night and I rip off the top of the bottle. Coincidence? I didn't think so either. I really do have super powers. Add that to your list of things you like about me. 

So now we have a decision to make. Salmon's almost ready and I've only got one bottle in mind to pair with it. Based on the facts: it was a clean break, no glass anywhere, no wine spilled, and it's a really nice bottle of Pinot that I've wanted to open for a while, we made the responsible choice to go ahead and drink it. I put the little screen filter thing in the wine aerator just in case, but it was all for not. The wine was fine. Thankfully. 

It really was a fantastic, big berry Pinot. Definitely lived up to the hype. I probably would've enjoyed it even more if I weren't thinking every sip could be my last, but even under that pressure, I liked it a lot. 

Grade: A-