5.7.14 Thank You, a Little Wine would be GREAT!

I like red wine. I used to prefer white. After all, it just doesn't STAIN the way red does. Then I read an article that said how much benefit a glass of red wine can be to health. 

I switched.

Although I will indulge myself with expensive fabric, the best thread, and I like my name brand laundry detergent, I am not a label snob when it comes to wine. I discovered the LAND DOWN UNDER's offerings a few years back and made them my favorites. Hearty flavor, inexpensive, and when our county finally gave up on Prohibition the year before last, available in my grocery store.

Imagine my surprise when the rest of the world woke up to MY PERSONAL wine choice. 

The price went up THREE dollars a bottle. Not much, you may think, but it became a luxury to me overnight. So I did one of the things I do best. I shopped around. I found some other wines to try. At the risk of making them discoverable (really, there ARE only two or three of you who have read this far, anyway!) I will reveal my new favorite wine company. Frontera.

The first one I tried was from Argentina, their Shiraz. I liked the friendly accompaniment and warm tone. True, the Frontera wines I selected do NOT have dates. True, only 40% of their wine is aged in American oak casks, the other 60% being aged in STAINLESS STEEL. The likelihood that my modest expenditure yielded an oak cask aged wine is very low. I am sure their better wines have higher priority. 

BUT.

They used real cork.

Real.

Australia seems to find the man-made cork suitable and I did not disagree. After all, save the trees and whatnot.

But pulling a REAL cork somehow elevates the whole wine experience and makes one feel quite civilized.

After I finished the Shiraz, I was ready to try the mystery from Chile, the Carmenere. First I had to find out what carmenere was. It refers to the grapes formerly grown in the Bordeau region of France. It is worthwhile to note that 

Chile now grows most of the world's carmenere grapes. 

I think they must do it quite well because Frontera's Chilean Carmenere is my new favorite.

But don't tell anyone. It is still reasonably priced.