Maybe it’s the fact that it’s Wednesday, which is my longest-feeling day at work (when my coworker and I copy and paste the entire newspaper online). Maybe it’s that I felt awful all day yesterday and actually took a sick day. In any case, this afternoon as I write, I’m thinking of wine.
I don’t know much about wine but I have drank my fair bit (see yesterday’s post). Wine is a good thing to have around. It’s a cheap hostess gift and a great thing to instantly step up dinner, whether friends stop by or you just want to make that work night lasagna dinner a little special.
I’ve got two recommendations: a red and a white. Both retail for under $10 and are great wines. People have commented on their wonderfulness when I’ve served them and I’ve fearlessly brought both to dinner parties full of wine aficionados.
Red Wine
Bully Hill: Love My Goat
The story as I heard it goes that this family vineyard was sold to a big coorporation and a family member went off to start his own wine company. When he couldn’t take the logo with him, the Bully Hill one was developed. A fun loving logo and a cheap price holds a great wine at a great price as a big “heck with you” to the big corporation. Here’s what I was able to find online (From LennThompson).
“The Taylor family was one of the original wine producing families of the Finger Lakes. The Taylor Wine Company grew from a small 19th-Century family operation into a 20th-Century wine bohemeth. After being acquired by the Coca-Cola company in the 1970s, the Taylor brand was sold to Seagrams in the 1980s. Taylor is one of the major brand names that was conglomerated into the infamous Constellation Brands based in Canandaigua. The Taylor name currently adorns the bottles of wines that originate mostly in California.
After Coca-Cola’s public takeover in the 1970s, legacy operator Walter Taylor was let go from the company and replaced by corporate management. Walter founded his own winery, Bully Hill, on one of his family’s original vineyard sites on the eastern shore of Keuka Lake… Coca-Cola sued Bully Hill in its early years which helped to help boost sales and name recognition.”
It a sweet enough wine for most everyone to at least like it and wine-y enough to not seem at all it’s cheap $5-7 price tag. Plus, it’s a wine celebrating sticking it to the man!!! I mean, what could be better?
To order wines or learn more, check them out online or in upstate New York.
White or Rose Wine
Big House
I know less about the Big House story but I have tried the white and pink blends.
We bought them for the cute label (Sean liked the jail reference; I liked the artistic rendering). They are crisp wines, a little sweet and great for summer.
A little more pricey then Bully Hill, you may have to look around for this one to be under ten dollars. (Where I shop, the price has gone up and down but has definitely been at $10 or less).
So cork open some special occasion in a bottle, knowing you don’t have to spend a bundle to treat yourself.
Oh and if you want to see one of the funniest video podcasts ever, click here. Hint: it’s about wine but I promise you won’t be bored.
Cheers to the midweek!
Images from www.wine.com