Do you ever watch any of the talent shows that are on television?  American Idol, The Voice, America’s Got Talent – there are a LOT of people out there who want to make it big!  The reality is that some of us have a talent for entertaining but most of us don’t.  Only, we don’t know it.  Having watched more than our fair share of these shows, the number that “go through” to the next round is pretty small compared to the number that stood in line for four days for a chance to sing in front of Howard Stern – really?

Conversely, there really are some talented people . . . people who know how to sing, people who know how to play an instrument, people who know how to tell a joke.  We’re not those people, but we do appreciate talent.  Whether we’ve attended community theater and watched one or two exceptionally talented young people or been to a concert where the opening act was – well, pretty talented.  When we lived in Aransas Pass back in 2002,  a friend of Jean’s from college told Jean that her daughter Kris  was singing back up for a young country western singer from East Texas named Miranda Lambert.  With the annual Shrimporee coming up in Aransas Pass, Brian made contact with Miranda’s mother – she was the booking agent at the time and Brian was told that they’d come down to Shrimproee and play for $450.  Brian still remembers saying, “We’ll make it $750 so the drive is worth while!”  So, in September of 2002 on a Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. – in Aransas Pass, Texas, Miranda Lambert took the main stage at Shrimporee in front of 150-200 people.  Yep – that’s the truth.  The tent would be filled to capacity later that night when the band, Ricochet took the stage for an encore presentation following their post-9/11 concert a year before.

What do we remember?  Miranda was good.  Kris was excellent as a back-up singer, but Miranda was REALLY, REALLY GOOD.  Isn’t it “funny” that three months later, Miranda Lambert went on cable show from The Nashville Network (remember that?) called Nashville Star.  She made it to the finals – don’t even remember who she lost to, but that should tell you something about talent.  Miranda’s price tag went from $750 to $7,500 the next year – a little out of our price range.  But, the die was cast, and she’s only gotten better as the years have moved along – it didn’t hurt that she married Blake Shelton, who is an amazing talent as well.

Tonight we tasted a terrific white wine – a 2010 Frog’s Leap Sauvignon Blanc.  We have to tell  you that this was a perfect wine to come home late from work and have a glass to just sip, enjoy and unwind.  It was so crisp, fresh and had a terrific citrus nose and taste.  While we completely understand that not everyone likes a “citrus-y” taste in wines, this Sauv Blanc is simply delicious.  Since we’re admittedly biased towards red wines, you can imagine the looks on our faces when we tried this little gem.  We already knew that Frog’s Leap from Rutherford, California in the heart of Napa Valley – had awesome red wines including a super Zinfandel, but a white wine?  What we learned about the wine is that according to wine.com, it “layers herbal scents with ripe fruit notes of melon, pineapple and cherimoya, cleaned up in the finish by pink grapefruit acidity. The flavors are saturated and sophisticated, a rich white to pour with Thai chicken sausages off the grill.”  What WE know is that it’s a refreshingly delicious wine, which for the price of less than $13 a bottle, you’re not going to be left holding the bottle.

Earlier this evening at an event in San Marcos, we watched an 11 -year old girl dance like a swan in front of 400 people, and 13 and 14 year old girls sing like professionals in front of the same group – there really is an abundance of talented people in our world; the trouble is that those who are making the ‘big bucks’ are  – for the most part – neither talented nor professional. (Just an opinion)  So, to Isabella, Aviana, Samantha and Merlin – thanks for sharing your talents with us.  Keep on doing what you do, because it will pay off – someday.

Please remember to enjoy your favorite wine responsibly and recycle whenever possible.