From the sublime to the ridiculous... and in between

Wow. So our choices are "cabernet, chardonnay, or pink." I figured I shouldn't scoff too loudly before trying; I was wrong - the cabernet was barely bearable to have on the table, but the white zin they replaced it with was not. Only wine I've ever encountered where none of the four of us were even willing to sip: not just sewage, but apparently untreated sewage.

Ahem.

Moving on - and up! - we were in DC this past weekend, and (after some very disappointing and expensive sushi the previous night) I was in the mood for a steak; so we decided to attempt taking Aidan - our 3.5 year-old - to Ruth's Chris. The Crystal City location is great: overlooking the Potomac, National airport, with the Mall in the distance. And Aidan was really good - so much so that he got to eat ice cream for dinner. Anyway - on the wine list (which was really pretty good) was a half bottle of Shafer Merlot, '03; $41 is a little pricy in absolute terms but seemed decent for Shafer. Glorious, and went through four stages (mbuttive initial hit - five minutes of closed and thin - opening with tannins coming through - full and so smooth) very rapidly, so fun to be drinking also. I am going to go out and find a lot more of this stuff.

The next night, we were in the mood for more of the same, but the venue - Arlington's Evening Star Cafe - only carried the Hillside Select and were out of that. So the owner (shop recommended even on initial exposure, btw - friendly, welcoming, lots of people standing around drinking, seemed knowledgeable) suggested a new Argentinian merlot which proved a suitable quaff but nowhere close; I have misplaced the details but will post. That's not the point, though: to go from NJ sewers to Shafer was quite the ascension :).