New favorite

For those who visit Noble Pig's blog, please know that I am not trying to copy her. She does post pictures of wine labels and goes on to give a clear and accurate description of the wine she's featuring.

I've always liked taking pictures of the labels of the wines I enjoy and when I saw her site for the first time, I was happy to find a kindred spirit who also enjoyed photographing her wine labels. I am doing the picture only. Unfortunately, the awesome description of the wine is not going to be forthcoming.

Have you ever heard that Alison Krauss song, "New Favorite"? I'm always having new favorites of things I like. I never was one for easily answering questions such as "what is your favorite color?" Because today, my favorite color may be orange, whereas yesterday it was black. Not that I was in a bad mood yesterday, but you get my point, don't you?

Let me state that I am not, by any means, even in the slightest bit, a wine connoisseur. I'm probably like most people, who know that wine is made from grapes. Pity us, you connoisseurs of the noble grape out there. We are but simple morons. I know what I like and I know what tastes good, though, and over the weekend, when I went into a local wine store, there was a sampling being offered. In good wine glasses, nonetheless, and not those tiny little plastic cups. I forget the name of the wine I tasted, only that it was a Pinot Grigio from Australia and I was expecting something really good (probably because of the glasses). But after sipping it, I told the gentleman I didn't like it at all. I couldn't even finish it. I'm not a snob; it just tasted really bad.

When I pour myself a glass of Frei Brothers Chardonnay 2005 Reserve, I am uplifted to a place where sheep graze in meadows of deep green and little fairies rain down pixie dust on my skin and suddenly I am flying above everything. Then I open my eyes and realize I'm at home, on the horse farm where I live and there's a fly I need to swat.

And then I take another sip and . . . I'm transported back to the meadow and the little sheep are running now and . . . Holy Guacamole, Batman, what was in that salad I had for lunch?

Ok. Seriously. This wine is pretty decent. I picked up a bottle when I visited my girlfriends two weekends ago and when I poured this wine into our glasses, my girlfriends actually stopped what they were doing and asked "what IS this?" And that's when I know I've brought along a decent wine. In Delaware, near where I live, a bottle costs 14.99.

And I've yet to have had a bottle of wine from the Russian River Valley that I haven't liked. Well, except for Bear Boat. But that's another story for another day. Actually, it's not even a story. Let's just leave it at that.

So if you're out and about, and happen to come across Frei Brothers 2005 Reserve Chardonnay, I suggest you pick up a bottle, and give it a taste. If you don't enjoy it, ah well. But I think you might. And it's certainly worth a try.