Comfort and Joy

To the true lover of wines, there is nothing that equals the comfort and joy of a well-constructed, palate-pleasing wine. Now, which wines meet that criteria is the subject of much debate and often the source of many power struggles. My philosophy is simple: Life is too short to drink bad wine, and what constitutes bad wine is a matter of personal taste. (Unless the wine truly has gone bad!) I've had $7.99 bottles of wine that were quite pleasant, and $100 bottles of wine that were so-so. I am a super-taster, meaning I have more than the average number of taste buds and a sharp sense of smell. I often smell and taste things that few others can, with the exception of my father and one of my sisters, who are also super-tasters. I'm the type of person who walks into a restaurant and sniffs the air for any of the following, which are totally unacceptable to me: mold, mildew, rotting food, bad or old fish, dirty carpet/fabric, dirty dishrag (especially foul), sewage, or old grease. I get one hint of any of those, and I will not - or more correctly, cannot - eat at that place.

Although I was raised in Pennsylvania (mostly Reading and the Philadelphia metro area), I now live in California with my husband Bill, who shares my love of wine, but is not nearly as picky since he has the normal number of taste buds and will drink just about anything red. He's not much into the whites. We honeymooned in California (having met and married in New Jersey) in 1999, and dreamt of moving to this state, but never thought it would happen. Fortunately for us, Bill was recruited by a consulting firm and in 2004, we moved here. We've spent quite a bit of time in the Napa, Sonoma, Delta and Amador wine regions. We have found gifted "wine mentors" in our friends Michael and Heidi, Al, and Scotty, and they are responsible for many of the finer (read: expensive) wines we have tasted. We tend to seek out the good values - wines that are well-structured and moderate in price.

Enough about me, though. This blog is not about me. It is about my adventures, epiphanies, and long-running, torrid, turbulent affair with wine. In some cases, wine is the background for the adventure; in others, it is the adventure. I hope in this blog the reader will find inspiration, amusement, and diversion, and welcome your feedback.