casa del vino

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Tag Archives: Halloween


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Day 61 – Trick or Treat . . .

While most folks with kids have been out trick or treatin’, something we remember all too well, we’ve enjoyed yet another terrific wine!  But, let’s talk about trick or treating . . . back in 1999, we were living in St. Charles, Missouri; a great place to live and what a great neighborhood we had moved into the previous year.  Now, you have to understand that 1999 was THE year.  If you follow football, it was THE year.  Even if you DON’T follow football, it was THE year.  Kurt Warner – a nobody(but Jean’s ALL TIME FAVORITE) – was thrust onto the stage as quarterback of the woebegone Rams.  Marshall Faulk was a cast-off of the Indianapolis Colts and Isaac Bruce – well, the Reverend was – The Reverend! For clarity – THIS was THE year the Rams WON IT ALL!!!!

Okay, so the stage was set on a very mild Halloween night.  Lots of kids to go trick or treating, and the ULTIMATE DAD VEHICLE, the wagon was called into service, yes we are talking the Red Radio Flyer wagon.  You see, Dad’s are all too happy to go trick or treating with their kids when one of the Dad’s is pulling the wagon with a cooler on it and the cooler has beer in it!  Now, this is the stuff that legends are made of , the guys started out with about seven kids and three Dads.  Brian (surprise, surprise) was pulling the wagon and in the neighborhood and quickly became the group of choice and the envy of the other Dads wishing they had thought of it . . . how perfect is it to take your kids trick or treating and have people come out to greet YOU?  We went up one street and down another; each time we’d enjoy a can of our favorite beverage (by now you are asking yourself – what does this have to do with wine?).

After an hour and a half of trick or treating, the kids were in overdrive going from house to house – now, the problem.  An hour and a half of enjoying beer – do the math – suddenly the need to be more comfortable takes hold.  You know on Halloween with lots of kids in the streets, it’s really, really difficult to – well, never mind.  Thank goodness the entourage was close to family of one of the Dads .  .  . otherwise, it could have been disastrous!  Memories like this are one of the gifts we have as parents.  While the kids had a great time trick or treating (all decked out mind you in Power-Puff Girl costumes) – they made a haul with lots of candy – the Dads had an equally and memorable time as well – the Mom’s, well they did  what they do best – hold down the fort, pass out candy to those coming to the door, turn off the light at the appointed hour, and take “snacks” to the Elmendo’s for the “after-party” – ahhhh, the memories.  When your kids grow up, it’s these kinds of memories that help us to enjoy tonight’s wine.

A 2009 Klinker Brick Zinfandel from California is an interesting bottle of wine .  .  . we’ve had this before but didn’t really pay attention to its’ structure.  An interesting nose, lots of fruit and pepper–which you’d expect from a Zinfandel – and initially, the taste was bland.  Not quite what we’ve come to expect from a quality Zin.  However, as this wine opened up – the true character started to show (could be the fire in the pit on the deck added in some ambiance.  We began to get hints of cinnamon and spice on the nose to  go with the peppery spice along with a beautiful black cherry scent.  The taste was equal to the nose with the trademark Zin peppery finish.  The longer this bottle of wine was open, the better the nose and taste.  Our friends at Twin Liquors have this wine available as one of their “Twin Deals” and for around $16 you’ll be glad you took advantage of this wine!  As lovers of good Zin, this one is in our wheel-house and it should be in yours too!

So, if you’ve got kids and you’re reading this – cherish the moments of trick or treating with them.  The time goes by so fast you’ll barely blink your eyes and they’ll be teenagers and want NOTHING to do with you!  (B-T-W–it gets better when the get older but cherish the memories just the same).  We had a moment in time when our kids were at the perfect age and WE were at the perfect age and the times were just right to enjoy company, comradrie, and kids.

We hope that you enjoy the times in front of you.  Enjoy your favorite wine responsibly and remember to recycle whenever you can, but most importantly – on this Halloween, and EVERY day – enjoy your kids, because they don’t stay kids for very long and as parents, these are some of the best times you’ll remember!

Trick Or Treat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Day 54 – Sometimes it happens quick as a Fox!

It’s the middle of the week .  .  .  already.  Do you ever stop and think about how fast the days and weeks go by?  When you stop and think about how fast they are going by, do you ever remember being a kid and thinking that the days could never go SO slow?  It was especially true this time of year.  You know, the days are getting shorter and it gets dark a lot earlier than it should – we’re just a week and a half away from the end of daylight saving time for another year.  When you’re a kid this time of year, you’re looking ahead to the BIG 3 . . . Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas!  Yep, when you get towards the end of October, things start looking pretty good.  School’s not as tough – there’s plenty of football to watch (or baseball) and all you can think of is your costume, where you’re going trick or treating and then thinking about turkey, dressing, Santa – whew, it’s overwhelming to think about all of that as a kid.

BUT, when you’re a kid, each DAY lasts for, like a week!  Seriously, it’s like you wake up in the morning, and the day goes on and on and on .  .  . and from today, October 24th until Halloween on the 31st – it’s like a YEAR!  It can’t get here fast enough. Oh, but wait, then you get through with Halloween and you have the three weeks until Thanksgiving and multiple days off!  This is when, we’re convinced, that time stands still.  And, it stands still in groups of three weeks.  The three weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving AND the three weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas!  When you’re a kid, time doesn’t fly by, it doesn’t whiz by, it barely crawls by!

When you grow up (We use the term loosely), things change.  Priorities change.  Demands on your time changes.  The amount of time you actually have to yourself changes.  And, time goes by at a break neck pace.  Now, you wake up in the morning and it’s Monday, and by the time you get home from work, it ‘s Thursday.  The weekend jumps up on you and just as you’re getting comfortable with that, bamn – it’s time to start with Monday all over again.  The fact is with Halloween next Wednesday – we’ll close my eyes for an hour or two and it will be time to visit family for Thanksgiving.  What a difference between then and now.

Tonight we sampled a 2010 Foxglove Cabernet Sauvignon from Varner Wines of San Miguel, California.  This is a young wine and when it was uncorked we were somewhat overwhelmed with the aroma of green pepper.  The first tasting left much to be desired; it had a lot of fruit, cedar, earthiness on the front palate, but non-existent taste on the finish.  It was like the taste evaporated before it got to the back.  After 45 minutes, the wine had opened up and the nose was much clearer; we definitely got a nice medium toasted oak with some beautiful fall fragrance – very earthy.  The taste improved as well – it mellowed considerably almost smooth and silky, but the finish left us wanting more.  Sampling it with a nice Extravaganza Pizza from Domino’s didn’t help either.  It’s a nice wine with beautiful color, but for us it didn’t deliver like a large number of the wines we’ve sampled thus far.  Perhaps a bit overpriced at $13.99 – and as they say, you win some, you lose some and some slip away as quick as a fox!

So, as our Wednesday is about to bleed into our Thursday, and the weekend is on the horizon, you may or may not want to try the 2010 Foxglove for yourself.  Obviously, we’d love to know your thoughts about it.  We’re not experts – we just enjoy wine, and as some feedback we’ve received from others indicate, we aren’t too far off in our comments. (Lady Luck smiling in our corner perhaps?).  Just remember when Halloween gets here next week and then your close your eyes at the end of that day and you open them again and it’s Thanksgiving, don’t say we didn’t warn you!  It just happens that way – quick as a fox!  Or as we used to have to type in “Typing Class” – yes, we learned to type not on a keyboard, but an actual typewriter – “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog”.

Please remember to enjoy this wine and all others responsibly and recycle whenever possible.