Either My New Best Friend or...

A man whose palate I may question later.

This afternoon, I stopped by the Argonaut Liquors on Colfax to see about picking some new wines to try. This time however, instead of picking solely on the labels that caught my eye, I decided beforehand to talk to a nice sommelier and see what one of them might recommend.

Enter Brian¹.

Brian approached me early as I wandered the aisles in confusion and I leapt upon his offer of assistance explaining with unabashed pride how I normally go about selecting my wines. He'd heard it before².

So he patiently led me about the store and pulled bottles off the shelf and gave me a tutorial on why he would select each one. I tried to pay attention...really I did. But he started to lose me when he started talking bouquet. Instead, I just stacked up everything he suggested into my basket and pretended to nod wisely. And then asked him,

"What I really want to know is...will this taste good? Will it be gulpable? Will I think I'm receiving communion [please no]?"

His response to these questions? "You could get one of those hats with the 2 straws and gulp away."

Brian? You're my kind of guy.

Here is my selection...



When prompted which one to try tonight, he insisted I start with the Bodegas Casano Yecla Monastrell 2007.



So after tossing a couple of bottles of Absolut³ into my cart, I checked out. $108 later, I emerged, eager to try my new finds and wondering if I would love Brian or hate him.

Here I am getting ready to take the first sip⁴.


And here I am taking the second sip.


And here I am after the first glass and onto the second.


I think we love Brian.

<sup>1: I have no idea what Brian's actual name is. I forgot to ask. But he really looked like a Brian and I'll remember his face so I can find him again later. For now though, he's Brian.

2: Damn. 1 point to the mean, nasty Noc Noc Door Boy for me not being original.

3: As an aside, there were several limited edition bottles of Absolut on sale. Limited SPARKLY and Rainbow edition bottles of Absolut. I did not purchase them. I stuck to the regular kind.

4: Do I not look like I absolutely MUST have a glass of wine? Trust me, I do.</sup>