I REALLY hate winter. The short days, the fewer hours of sunlight, the feeling of hibernation, pounds being put on where they shouldn’t be put on; the gravitational pull on my body, mind and psyche. My most “optimistic” thought is that on the first day of winter, December 21, we’ve hit rock-bottom as far as few hours of daylight (or sunlight, if we’re lucky enough to have some), and that from that day forward, we will be getting little bits more of daylight each day. “summer is around the corner!”, I tell myself.
One December many years ago I decided to taunt the elements by hosting a mid-winter barbeque, and encouraged my guests to wear their finest aloha wear. I made festive cocktails and played music from warm, tropical places. It was fun, and I got to pretend that the short days didn’t bother me.
So what about tonight? Good takeout Chinese food (Flower Lounge, in Oakland’s Dimond District), along with the last glass-and-a quarter of Zeisen Gruner Veltliner. Rich, not racy, full bodied and viscous, with good (thought not “zippy”) acidity. A fine match, and much-more-than-good-enough for a Monday night in almost-December. A very addictive wine to drink on its own any 4:52pm of the week, by the way.
The bottle notes describe “spice, pepper and crisp refreshing fruit…” and the winery notes say “Incredibly crispy (sic) and fine-boned with plenty of pepper and a dash of extravagance. No wonder, because this wine grows on the largest fossil oyster reef in the world”. Keep an eye out for the 2019 vintage (mine was a 2018), which according to the website, won a ton of awards. Salud.
What are we drinking tonight? 