Wine

I like wine with meals.  I like a particular type and brand of wine.  It is produced by Twisted Cellars and it is called "Twisted".  It is an old vine zinfandel (hence "twisted").  It is inexpensive and nothing fancy.  It gets good reviews on sites discussing affordable wines.  This is not an ad for it, I just happen to like the stuff with my meals.

So why do I mention it?  It is apparently a limited production and sometimes not available.  I found it in a local butcher/deli/liquor store years ago.  It apparently didn't sell well, so they stopped shelving it.  But I liked it enough to ask if they could special order it.  I'm a good customer, so they did if I would buy 4-6 cases of it at a time.  Well, why not?  It's not like it goes bad in a few months.

I'm so used to it now that everything else tastes a bit "off".    So when the supply dried up recently, I went searching for it.  That happened a few years ago too.  A wine store (60 miles away) in my State sells it, but says they can't ship it to me.  Yet a wine store in New York State (300 miles away) will.

I ordered 8 cases from NY last week.  It arrived in 3 days.  I am baffled by why one State can ship wine to me but my own State cannot, but laws are weird.  So I'm good for 6 months.

But the NY store was also out of stock for 3 months, and I decided to try similarly-described wines available at the local store.  You know that stuff about "hints of blackberry, after-tongue fruitiness, good palate"?  That's mostly all fake jargon.  But if a wine has the same descriptions as the one I like, it stands a good chance of being equally satisfactory.

Seeking an alternative (before the NY store had a supply of the "Twisted"), I tried an Argentinean Malbec (Frontera).  Drinking it now.  It's close but very slightly more acidic.  I could live with that.  It goes well with grilled meats, tomato sauces, and roasted chicken or pork.

But I'm glad the NY store came through with the Twisted.