Wine By Any Other Name..............

I must admit that I enjoy a glass of wine (or two...) in the evening, or at lunchtime when we treat ourselves and eat out, or meet up with friends. For home consumption I buy the 'Casa de Plonk' variety, i.e. 5 litres in a cardboard box with a tap that never ever does as it should and usually results in a tussle and a curse! (I know somebody who once tried to prise the box open with a knife and ended up with wine all over the place!) 

I have two lovely wine-box-holders that cleverly disguise the fact that it is a 'No Name' brand, one contains red and the other holds the white and they have been admired by many people.

The wine box holders.

But, every now and then when people come to dinner, or we are going to visit friends, I buy a larny bottle to take with us. It has to be a screw top bottle because so few people actually have corkscrews now. Then it becomes a case of pushing the cork into the bottle and pouring round it! This usually happens at a picnic when it is far too late to nip back to find one. And screw tops are very handy when there is wine left in the bottle and it needs to be transported. Not that this is a problem that I normally have!

I fully admit that I am a bit of a peasant when it comes to choosing wine. In summer I like a dry white, crisp and cold with plenty of ice, and in winter a red is very welcome but don't confuse me with 'noses' and 'bouquets' and 'hints of chocolate and raspberries with a lingering taste of grass' etc. Words like 'elegant' and 'vivacious' are not what I would use to describe a wine. I would use 'very drinkable', or 'goes well with rugby and biltong', something that can be understood by people like me!! So, as all that wine-speak is lost on me, I tend to check the prices first! We have really excellent wines here in the Western Cape, after all they are produced here, so pretty much anything is chooseable. And then, when I am tossing up between a Merlot and a Pinotage or a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Chardonnay, I do the sensible thing.

I look at the label and choose the one I like best!

A Prancing little taste! Energetic and sound! And delicious!

The labels are an art form in themselves, ranging from fat people to painted dogs, from horses to sisters or cousins, from tongue-in-cheek to up-market and no nonsense.

And here is the last one I bought.

Poor toad, gone but not forgotten!

Isn't it lovely? I'll never forget that name!

And it tasted wonderful!

Cheers!