I love a good wine.... I enjoy it frequently with dinner. After a particularly stressful day, I will get home from work, light some candles, play some jazz music, pour a glass and just sit, relax and sip. It's like a mini ritual with me and I find comfort in it. I suppose it can be done with any kind of drink, a cup of tea, a martini, a glass of sparkling water with a twist of lime or lemon. I just prefer the wine.
If you eat a fatty meal, serve red wine with it. It cuts the fat and actually helps to scrub your arteries clean. Red wine has healing properties, namely RESERVATROL. It's good for your heart, your cholesterol, your blood pressure. You can get it from a pill if you choose, but where's the fun in that? Slowly sip and enjoy a glass or swallow a pill?! Which sounds more appealing to you?
There is really no harm in having a glass or two of wine. Consuming the entire bottle by yourself in one evening....that's another story. If this is the case, perhaps you need to change your life a bit, get out more, or pick up the phone and call a friend to share a glass or two with you. A platter of cheese and crackers, good olives, and some fruit is the perfect thing to serve for impromtu gathering and it's just not the same with a glass of soda! Perrier water for the non-drinkers in your group, ok....but wine is good for the soul and just makes everything taste better.
For those on a budget, there is no need to break the bank or go into debt over a bottle of good wine. I am a big fan of Yellowtail. They make a good Merlot and their Shiraz ( a little heavy to drink in warmer weather) is the best I have ever had. I try not to be too religious about which wine goes with which food (the rule usually is white wine with fish, salads, and lighter pasta meals, red with beef or heavier pasta dinners like lasagna or manicotta.) No need to really stress over this but there are some die-hard wine lovers out there who will be offended if you do not have the right wine with a particular meal so try to keep a good variety of each on hand. If you are going to dinner and are not sure what your host is serving, bring a good Pinot Grigio. If he or she has planned a dinner that calls for red wine, the Pinot can be served before the meal with appetizers or even after with dessert. Chardonnay is great to serve in the summer, outside at a BBQ or at the beach or when just hanging by the pool with friends. Folks that are not regular wine drinkers will enjoy a Chardonnay for its lightness, slight sweetness, and low alcohol content. Red wine should be served room temperature, white always chilled. Some people toss a few ice cubes into a glass of white wine. I personally would NEVER do that (it waters down the taste!)....but to each his own. Just make sure you slip it in the fridge a few hours before, buy it from the cold case at the liquor store, or if worse comes to worse, toss the bottle into the freezer for awhile......but don't forget to check on it so it doesn't turn to ice.
The man I am dating is not much of a wine drinker. He is more of a Budweiser kind of guy. When we first starting dating he talked about a Red Rose' wine he really enjoys from time to time. Of course, I turned up my snobby nose at that idea. We recently were invited to dinner at his cousin's home and we stopped on the way for a bottle of wine. He knew exactly what he wanted and marched up to the register with a huge screw cap jug of Rose'. I threw a mini trantrum right there in the liquor store, absolutely refusing to bring a screw cap bottle of wine to dinner. He reluctantly put the jug back and because I knew they were serving pasta with meat sauce, we settled on a nice Merlot instead. At dinner, the bottle was opened but barely touched (except by me) and his cousin kept asking," Where's the Rose'?". Live and learn.
I have since sampled the screw-cap jug of wine and I must admit it's really not bad at all. It's inexpensive, very light, a little sweet and goes well with just about everything. I always make sure we have a bottle on hand for the weekends because I know it's something my man enjoys and I enjoy the ritual of sipping it with him. I have come to the conclusion.....wine is wine no matter what kind, red or white, cork or screw cap....as long as its shared with the people you love.
And this is my Daily Cyn........
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