I now present you with a series of guest posts by my illustrious hubby on his favorite subject of late…WINE.  He reads Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast cover to cover each month and he regales me in the proper vintages to drink and what we NEED to buy. 

It is hard to imagine a time when beer ruled the roost in our home, but it truly did before K. In our cozy townhouse, we had a hanging wine rack picked up at the Renaissance Festival. It held all of four bottles and hung right above the kitchen sink. In those days it was rare that Stacy would open a bottle, and I would turn up my nose and down a few brews instead. Before we moved out of the townhouse, I had been introduced to the occasional Beaujolais-Villages and we added a wine rack above the cabinets to expand our capacity (we could rack a whopping 10 bottles by that time). If I had known where it would all lead, I could have run back to microbrews when I had the chance.

When K was 6 months old we decided we needed a break from the burdens of parenthood (how little we knew then). The grandparents agreed to take the kids and off we went to Vegas for some R&R. While there to pamper ourselves we ate at Aureole in Mandalay Bay. We were really just looking for a fancy spot at the time, but their wine cellar was amazing in vision, selection, and presentment. How can you not love a sunken restaurant with a three-story, glass enclosed wine cellar that the entrance staircase spirals around? The staff would actually rappel down to get the wine customers ordered, and the wine list was presented on tablet PCs for our selection.

We splurged on a bottle of Pinot Noir that doubled the dinner tab, and have both been hooked on wine since. I still drank mostly beer for the next several years, but gradually migrated to a nearly 100% wine preference.

I guess my point is that anyone can come to enjoy, and even prefer wine given the right circumstances, and more importantly the right choice in wine as an introduction. Good options for introduction to red wine would be a Beaujolais or Grenache. Our favorite Beaujolais is from Louis Jadot, and good options for Grenache would be Las Rocas or Monte Oton. All three are relatively cheap at roughly $12, $10, & $8 respectively. I’m not as enthused about white wines in general, but a good starting point is probably a Gewürztraminer or Riesling. Hogue would be a good introduction here as both can be found easily and for $10 or less.

Next installment:  Why storing your wine in your kitchen is not such a stellar idea and why not all cheap wine is the same.

Eventually you will graduate to something like this.  We opened it for my birthday yesterday…mmmmmmm…Ancient Vine Zinfandel.  The grapes for this wine came from vines over 140 years old, which gives them great flavor but a very low yield.  Most vines are torn out and replanted after around 30-40 years to keep the production higher.