Wine is good for the heart... and friends are good for the soul

So yes, I’m pretty tired today.

I haven’t drunk any wine on a “school night” in a while. Not for any reason other than since I started running a awhile back, I just haven’t really felt like drinking it much unless I’m out for dinner. And even then, I often opt for champagne or a martini. I used to drink at home pretty regularly, typically every to every other night. No – not alcoholic type drinking, but just getting my palate educated for when I do wine parties, or make recommendations for people. It’s difficult to recommend product if you either a.) haven’t tasted the inventory you’ve got, or 2) don’t have a good understanding of different wine styles.

The restaurant food was delicious although petite portions. I am a big portion type of person. I know that food is supposed to be “pretty pretty” and all of that, but I really would prefer good food in larger portions. I may not eat all of it, but psychologically it just makes me feel better. One of my little quirks I guess! Out of the four wines they paired with the meal, I preferred the first one. It was an Australian Roussanne – which to me, tasted almost exactly like an Australian Chard/Sav Blanc blend. It was really, really nice. The other ones sort of left me as just “okay”. The second one was an Austrian red wine, I forget the grape – but it tasted exactly like a Beaujolais with the body of a Pinot Noir. Okay, but nothing spectacular. The third was a Chilean “Merlot” (36% Merlot, 34% Cab and 30% Carmenere) which to me tasted nothing like a Merlot, but exactly like a “too young to drink” Cabernet. Not my taste. The fourth one was a Ruby Port – and I hate Port of any kind. Blech. It tasted like stewed raisins. Not my cup of tea....

The only downside to the night was that we girls didn’t get to do much “girl chat”. It can be such a small world....as it turns out, we were sharing a table with someone who is a new hire at my shop – who I hadn’t met in person prior to last night. He's a very nice man – and he was there with his wife and a friend – but they sort of monopolized all of our conversations last night. So it went from my being able to have fun with my girlfriend and her friend that I had never met before – to my having to wear my wine shop “hat” and talking “shop” all night.

I think we’ll do this again though – at least I hope so! I think we’ll try a different restaurant though, maybe with a bigger separation between us and the other people – so that we can truly have a little girl time!