Why start this blog?

So I wanted to start a blog that detailed my exploits in finding something decent to drink with... whatever. Hell, I almost never know what we're going to eat on a given night, so how am I supposed to buy the right thing to drink with it?

OK, so I can't figure out what to buy to drink tonight, but why blog about it?

Well because I really got tired of trying to remember what the heck was good and what was, well, just average. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of plunking down 10, 20 even 30 dollars on what is supposed to be the "right" wine for a given dinner occasion, only to have it turn out to be a waste. The liquor store gets enough of my business, I don't have to pay them and then regret drinking what they sold me. They got their money, all I got was either a headache, or a crappy experience. I want something I can rely on.

One of the more quotable lines from the liquor store / wine shop owner is "I liked this one, but it depends on what you're having with it." Really? No Duh. Thanks for the wisdom.

So, I'm sitting here with a bottle of white wine the guy tried, sold to "The Gal", and I'm not enjoying it. OK, maybe because it was less than $20, and we ate it with Chinese food, but it was supposed to be good with Asian food... according to the wine shop guy.

See what I mean?

That was money we could have spent on something we actually really liked. Truth be told, the wine wasn't bad, but it didn't go well with my boneless spare ribs, Lo Mien and chicken nuggets. Maybe it was the hot sauce I poured all over the pile.

Well It makes sense to tell you my/our preferences, and you can take the reviews with that in mind.

Prefer

• Cabernet


• Deep Red Zinfandel


• Merlot


• Chilled Chardonnay


• Smooth Whites like Sauvingnon Blanc

Prefer Less

• Anything overpriced ($100 wine? why when a $40 one tastes close?)


• Port


• Riesling


• Snooty wine reviewers (Screw them, this is about drinking good stuff at a fair price)

Who are we? Just an average guy and his better than average gal. We're normal people who don't make a lot of cash, but when we have a little extra, we like to splurge on a bottle of wine or ingredients to make Marguerita's on the deck, or even a case of ice cold beer.

And your next question as you read this could be anything from:

a) Why link to snooty wine review magazines?

b) Why take the wine shop guy's advice?

c) Why not just join a wine forum or even MySpace and spout off?

To be honest, it's probably because:

a) Those are the only consistent measuring tools available to the average person
b) We do sometimes take such advice and sometimes it works out... sometimes being the key
c) Nothing worse then getting lost in an online message board or a world filled with 13 year olds pretending to be 17/18.

My (and The Gal's) time spent writing is worth the read, at least our friends think so. They know we like to have something nice to drink with dinner, and they always ask "What should I Drink tonight" Hence the title of the blog.

So that's pretty much the gist. No Hemingway write ups on what was the most succulent strip of filet Mignon my pallet was immersed in when the deep, bold sensation of deep crimson vintage that had been culled from the Bordeaux region in past 20 years washed it down in a smooth warm sensation that traveled the length of my breast and burst in my gut with the fury of a thousand foreign legions.

Not here.

It's good wine, good buy... or that stuff tasted like crap and you should save your money.

And in case you're wondering, we did the whole college thing trying to scrape up enough money for pizza by looking for change under the couch cushions. So we know what it's like when you're working on a budget, which is probably going to have a greater influence on future posts than I expect, but you never know until you read them.

One more thing: this isn't the first attempt to get something like this rolling. We ran a blog/site chronicling our South Beach Diet success, but the server tanked and we had to set it up all over again... and instead of going through hell with database conversion, I said screw it. I'll just blog here until we get the other one setup. If we can, we'll run both, but for now, this is the one that's the main thrust of what we're drinking.