Friday, August 29, 2008

Today on Serious Grape: Wine Survival for Early Fall

It's crazy time.

Back to school. Back to work after summer vacations. Back to clothes with waistbands and shirts with buttons. (picture by Avolore)

Today on Serious Grape, the wine column I write for the fantastic food site Serious Eats, I've got a wine survival guide to get you over the late summer blues and through the early fall crazies.

It includes my shopping list for a mixed case of wine so you will always have the right bottle to try with your takeout, put on your table when entertaining, and pair with all your transitional meals. Rather than running to the store every time you need some wine, this will give you that comfortable feeling that you're ready for any eventuality. A mixed case is kind of the wine equivalent of restocking all your pens, paperclips, and computer supplies. Check it out and see what you think.

Most importantly, remember to ask your wine merchant for a mixed case discount. It's a typical courtesy that many of us don't take advantage of, but if there's a time to take every discount coming to you, it's now.

4 comments:

dhonig said...

It is so nice to see you blogging. You have been done a disservice and apologies are due.

Anonymous said...

Great post, Dr. D. I would have liked to have seen some specific recommendations (and maybe not *3* Italian reds), but this is the sort of "go for it" recommendation that is great for getting people out of a rut.

Anonymous said...

Great post at SE, I am a fan of the mixed case.

Dr. Debs said...

Thanks, dhonig. I just have to remember why I'm doing this, and that's because I love wine!

Mike, I understand completely the specific recs part but the post was over my column word limit as it was, and the distribution of wines across the country is so mysterious I didn't want people to get hung up on the names (remember Asimov's mixed case when people were in tears because they couldn't get X wine?). As for the preponderance of Sicilian reds, all the parents I know are eating 2 things these days: pizza and supermarket cooked chickens. So I figured the Beaujolais balanced out the bigger reds, and kept the mixed case simple to put together.

Katie, you and me both. I love mixed cases--they're like a box full of presents you get to keep opening, one by one.