In the Interest of Research...

I'm starting a new semi-regular thang here on the blog. Today I drove to Boulder to use my member's coupon at REI. I bought an inflatable kayak, because dammit, I needed one, plus I scored a deal on buying a paddle at the same time. Alas, the kayak was on sale, so I couldn't use my coupon on it... so I had to find something at full-price to buy. I bought more Superfeet High Volume insoles, the same ones I have in my hiking boots, for my kitchen shoes. I highly recommend them for anyone who spends a lot of time on their feet (the green ones only, though... those are the High Volume ones).

The Superfeet insoles were also on sale, as was the Gorillapod flexible tripod I got for my camera (Coolest. Thing. Ever.). I wound up buying some maximum compression leggings and a triathlon suit so, you know, I could take advantage of that 20% coupon.

In any case, while in Boulder, I also stopped at the storied LiquorMart. They had unbelievable prices (my Sebeka cheetah wine for seven bucks!) and an incredible selection. One of the salesdudes kind of followed me around and kept asking if he could help, and I finally said yes.

I was interested in trying some of the Spanish albarino I keep reading about (there should be a tilde over the n, but I can't figure out how to get that character), so he steered me to a couple choices. He also kept asking me about my preferences and seemed knowledgeable but not snobby, so I let him recommend another pinotage from South Africa that does not have cheetahs on the bottle and a few other Spanish wines.

I asked him about my weird reaction to some red wines (the flushing, the shortness of breath and feeling that Andre the Giant is sitting on my chest) and how I haven't had that when drinking the South African wines. He said it was because they had no added sulfites and were produced "the old way." I dunno about that, but he recommended an organic, sulfite-free merlot and cab blend from California and, for eight bucks, I decided to give it a try.

I left LiquorMart with a dozen bottles, most of them brand new to me and less than $10 (the most I spent per bottle was on the two albarinos, which were $15 and $16). And I feel my research should not be kept to myself. So, every time I open a bottle, I'm going to tell you about it.

Tonight's bottle, served with Korean-style cabbage and green onion pancakes, was a $7 Riesling. I bought it as a lark, mostly for the name: Funf (which just means "five" auf Deutsch, but is a fun word to say). There should be an umlaut over the u, but I can't figure out those whacky foreign characters on Blogger.

So:

Funf, German Riesling, $7. Essentially white grape juice. Not syrupy sweet but definitely not on the dry side. Much like Keanu, the line cook I adore, it's uncomplicated but pleasant. No exciting (or appalling) notes. I know I'm supposed to say something like "citrus on the nose" or whatnot, but it really wasn't complex enough. Drinkable, certainly, but not something to try to impress anyone over 22 with. Probably worth the seven bucks, though I wouldn't buy it again unless the only other Riesling available was Mondavi (shudder).

Stay tuned as I drink my way through my LiquorMart purchase, sitting in my inflatable kayak wearing my tri suit. It's a dirty job, but some pirate's gotta do it.