First of all, I have to give a huge shout out to my friend C and her husband, and congratulate them on welcoming their little boy to the world. Harrison is wonderful and healthy, and about as perfect as a newborn can be. Thank you so much for allowing me to visit you this evening and meet the little guy only hours after he was born. To see pictures of her baby shower, go here.
Okay, on to thirsty Thursday.
It's time for the holidays! And to be clear, I'm a Christian and am in no way offended by people saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". First of all, there are a lot of holidays right now. Hanukkah starts on the 20th and Kwanzaa begins on the 26th, but those aren't really my point. For as long as I can remember this has been considered "The Holiday Season". (I mean, Andy Williams sings a song referencing exactly this point.) This Holiday Season encompassed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve. But now that there's a whole "PC" issue with using the term "holiday" everybody has an issue with the simple act of wishing someone "Happy Holidays". My preference is that everybody stops being to sensitive, on all sides of all religions. But since that's not going to happen, I'll just try to wish my Jewish friends a Happy Hanukkah and my Christian friends a Merry Christmas, and strangers Happy Holidays, because I know nothing about Kwanzaa.
No matter what holiday you're celebrating, you probably will be celebrating with family and friends....and booze. Hosting holiday parties can get expensive when you start buying all that wine and beer. If you don't feel comfortable having a BYOB holiday party, here are two of my suggestions for cheaper red wines that still offer good flavor. These are almost always nestled somewhere in our wine rack.
Okay, on to thirsty Thursday.
It's time for the holidays! And to be clear, I'm a Christian and am in no way offended by people saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". First of all, there are a lot of holidays right now. Hanukkah starts on the 20th and Kwanzaa begins on the 26th, but those aren't really my point. For as long as I can remember this has been considered "The Holiday Season". (I mean, Andy Williams sings a song referencing exactly this point.) This Holiday Season encompassed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve. But now that there's a whole "PC" issue with using the term "holiday" everybody has an issue with the simple act of wishing someone "Happy Holidays". My preference is that everybody stops being to sensitive, on all sides of all religions. But since that's not going to happen, I'll just try to wish my Jewish friends a Happy Hanukkah and my Christian friends a Merry Christmas, and strangers Happy Holidays, because I know nothing about Kwanzaa.
No matter what holiday you're celebrating, you probably will be celebrating with family and friends....and booze. Hosting holiday parties can get expensive when you start buying all that wine and beer. If you don't feel comfortable having a BYOB holiday party, here are two of my suggestions for cheaper red wines that still offer good flavor. These are almost always nestled somewhere in our wine rack.
*Please note that we are not professional wine tasters with refined pallets. We are just people that enjoy drinking wine.
Frontera Carmenere by Concha Y Toro
This wine was recommended to us by my parents about two years ago. I can't remember how they heard about it, or if they just tried it by chance, but at $5 for a 750 ml bottle, it's worth trying. It has tons of flavor and body, especially for a $5 bottle of wine. This has become pretty mainstream and can be found in most liquor stores. We usually get it at a very small liquor store just down the street from our house and my parents buy theirs at Hy-Vee. I can't make any promises for other grocery stores.
Frontera Carmenere by Concha Y Toro
This wine was recommended to us by my parents about two years ago. I can't remember how they heard about it, or if they just tried it by chance, but at $5 for a 750 ml bottle, it's worth trying. It has tons of flavor and body, especially for a $5 bottle of wine. This has become pretty mainstream and can be found in most liquor stores. We usually get it at a very small liquor store just down the street from our house and my parents buy theirs at Hy-Vee. I can't make any promises for other grocery stores.
Why is that glass empty?
Bodegas Borsao
The Borsao was recommended to C and I by a sommelier at a wedding 3 years ago. It's a Spanish wine with some very different flavors from other reds (i.e. Merlot, Cabernet, Shiraz, etc). We highly recommend this if you're looking for something with just a little bit of spice to it. This usually runs about $8 for a 750 ml bottle. This is a little harder to find; we usually buy ours at World Market. You could also probably find it at a larger liquor or wine store that sells many different "regions" of wine.
Those are our two favorite budget wines. Of course if you're on an extreme budget, Trader Joe's 2 buck chuck, (i.e. Charles Shaw) is always a good choice. It's not really $2 anymore, it's now $2.99. Stupid inflation.
What are your favorite budget wines? We are always looking for suggestions to fill our wine rack!
2 comments:
mmmmm! my roomie and i do this thing called boozeday tuesday, where we go to the wine store and buy the $3 discount wine then go home and chug it. I'm going to try one of these next time!
miss you!
I love the idea of boozeday tuesday! You should make shirts. I'd buy one. :)
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