I HEART Red Wine...

I love red wine…truly. It was, however, a slow progression to love. My first experience with wine was somewhat near to the feeling you have of both repulsion and attraction to that obnoxious boy on the other side of the class. His arrogance being simultaneously irritating, and yet,…alluring.. (Okay, maybe that was just my childhood crush.) In any case, I had ambiguous feeling about wine when I was first introduced.

I started with Chardonnays. My mother loves Chardonnays. She was more than happy to introduce me to her favorites, all of which I tried and sipped in guilty disgust. I could not bring myself to tell my mother that the dry, earthy taste of this wine was nowhere near enjoyable to me. And yet, I continued sipping, sure that with enough time I would grow to enjoy wine. Alas, it never happened.

To this day I still can’t stand Chardonnays. As a replacement I turned to the sweeter white wines, such as Reislings, but always felt a certain sort of exclusion from the club. I wanted to love wine the way I saw in movies such as Bottleshock and Sideways. I felt nothing near love.

At some point, my mother offered me a glass of Red Zinfandel. It was a deep, smooth wine made by a winery called Tobin James. It was absolutely wonderful! I loved the deeper, less tart taste of red wines. From there, I never looked back. I was hooked on reds.

Currently, I gravitate towards Cabernets and Zins, but my everyday (not that I drink it every day…but I could), go-to wine is a label called Ménage á Trois. This is a blend of reds, 3 to be exact: Zin, Cab and Merlot - hence the provocative title. Here is why I love this wine: it is smooth, fairly light (for a red), and ever-so-slightly sweet. Moreover, its easy to find and inexpensive. If you are new to wine drinking, especially reds, give this red a try. You might be surprised.

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