Drink Rum

So this past weekend I went to a Wine Festival. I've never been to one before and am not much of a wine person at all. It all seems very snooty.

But it was free and we thought it'd be a fun change of pace.

The first few hours of the tastings were just about as snobby as I'd expected. After a while, though, people were getting drunk and stupid. Very much like a normal drinking crowd. I pretty much came to realize that wine snobs are basically the same people who'd get stupid drunk in college, but now have fancier jobs and still want to impress each other but hide behind a psuedo-sophistication of wine snobbery. In the end... the wine divas, the beer swillers, and rum runners are aiming for the same bullseye.

My sister is a wine snob. She's as learned about wines as I am about... nothing. She knows more about wines than I could ever know about anything else. Her husband is equally learned, but more relaxed. I asked what wines I should try, etc, and his thoughts were to try them all, screw the swirling, smelling, spitting and get a happy buzz going. Easy enough. By the way if you call a professional wine steward a Somalian instead of a Sommelier (fancy French term for pro-wine snob) they get angry. If they politely try to correct you, you can further aggrivate them by saying, "Whatever Pedro. Hit it again." and wave an empty glass in their direction.

Me in a wine tasting festival is very much like the Blues Brothers in the fancy restaurant... "How much for the little girl? How much for your women? We want to buy your women!"

I did find a winery that stood out from all the rest. It was staffed by hippees and their labels had satan on them. Before you say "run from the hippees" I should point out that most wine makers are just hippees with better hair and denim shirts.

The vinyard was Peaks of Otter Winery and all of their wines were yummy. They were all kind of gimmicky... but of all the wines I drank... theirs are the only ones I can remember/distinguish. There are two of note that I purchased and will review.

First, "Kiss the Devil"

This wine was presented to me as "better for basting than for tasting". I tried it anyway. It was africa hot. Super spicy wine. Basically it's a pepper wine made from an apple wine infused with about 30 different peppers. It was insane and undrinkable beyond the smallest sip... but I bet it goes great in a pasta sauce or brushed on a grilled chicken breast. Purchased.

Second... "Chili Dawg". This was presented to me by a hippee with a can of cheez whiz. Gross. I asked for the wine, spare the cheese. Regular cheese grosses me out... engineered spray cheese is of the devil. He told people to eat the spray cheese and then sip the wine. Instant pepperjack spray cheez. Apparently, it worked as advertised. I tried it sans cheese and founf that it was spicy but drinkable and would be a perfect wine to go with real cheese, crackers, salami or pepperoni, etc. Yum yum. It was a blend of %3 Kiss the Devil and 97% sweet apple wine. Really, really good. Purchased.

I tried all of the wines they had and all of them were great. I'll probably buy more off their web page.

I bought some other wines too, but I don't remember them so after I drink them I'll write whether they were any good.

I also bought an oak cask to age some spirits in.

I think I see some aged rum in my future. My 2007 future to be exact.