After hearing a comment repeated by a number of our readers, we decided to take action.  Yep, a number of you have noted that we’ve hit a bit of a “bad spell” when it comes to our evening wine choice. So, we drew inspiration from one of our all time favorite movies “The Natural” and as Brian headed to “the shelf” to find a tasting for tonight he was urged on by Jean quoting Roy Hobbs telling bat boy Bobby Savoy to ” pick me out a winner, Bobby.”  As you’ve probably figured out by now there are a few “sacred cows” in the household – let’s see . . . dogs, the St. Louis Rams, the St. Louis Cardinals, Chopped, movies and of course – BASEBALL.  So, when you combine movies, baseball and to Jean’s delight, Robert Redford – you get the trifecta – yep, it just doesn’t get much better than that.  For the record, the addition of Glenn Close in the movie is an added bonus.  The movie is a classic – if you haven’t seen it, you should – if you have seen it, watch it again.  There are such wonderful movies lines – and not to mention, Robert Redford.

Truth be told, we think there is a perfect movie line for almost any situation – think about it.  What can you say when something you do goes a bit too far over the top – “think ya used enough dynamite there, Butch“.  What do you say when a project is larger than you expected – “think you’re gonna need a bigger boat.” What do you say when somebody just doesn’t get what you are explaining to them – “what we have here is a failure to communicate.”  Enough already – you get the picture – and a prize of a great bottle of wine to the first person who can name all three movies.  So next time you encounter a situation of any kind – stop and try to come up with a movie line to sum up the situation.

As usual, we digress – so on to tonight’s “winner”.  Knowing we needed something good – we went back to an old standby – Paso Robles – one of our favorite wineries from both our first trip to Paso AND our second trip was from Peachy Canyon.  Tonight’s wine is a 2010 Petite Sirah and we have to tell you . . . this wine is NOT for the faint of heart.  It’s as big and bold as they come, and as much as we enjoyed it, this one could lay down for another two or three years and be even better.  There is lots of oak on the nose, which if you love those big, oaky wines, you’ll absolutely love this one.  If you don’t, well you may want to pass the bottle on to a friend.  You’ll get some nice cherry fruit on the front of your palate . . . and you’ll definitely finish with it as well.  We noticed that the longer the bottle was opened, the sweeter the cherry taste.  If you like spice,  you’ll love this Petite Sirah.  If you like fruit, you’ll like this Petite Sirah.  If you like a dark, inky purple color that is thick with juice, you’ll love this Petite Sirah.

The bad news is that this wine (the 2010 vintage) is priced above our threshold for preferred wines . . . at about $30 a bottle.  The good news is that you can find Peachy Canyon Petite Sirah at Gabriel’s Outlet in San Marcos for less than $25 a bottle and it’s an older vintage!  We’re big fans of Peachy Canyon; their Zinfandels rock and this year we’re also going to be tasting their 2011 Viognier.  A winner . . . picked out – not by Bobby – but by Brian (who does bear a resemblance to Robert Redford in Jean’s eyes)!  Until tomorrow, “turn out the lights, the party’s over…”

No matter who picks out the winner or what your favorite wine may be, please remember to enjoy it responsibly and recycle whenever possible.