Loop Throwing #1:

I was just making the finishing touches on this post when it was brought to my attention a HUGE one week BASH of a party!  From two twin sisters who started the site Five Minutes For Mom, comes the Ultimate Blog Party 2009 which is about building online friendships and relationships and it starts TODAY and runs until the 27th.

It’s very simple to join the fun (if I could do it ANYbody can!) and there are lots of ways you can get involved–from simply reading their post, to publishing your own party post on your blog (which is what I’m doing right NOW and you’re a part of it!) and signing one of the Mr. Linky link lists near the end of their post.  There are even prizes!  I LOVE prizes!  There are so many cool prizes to be won at this years Ultimate Blog Party 2009 but my top three are:

#70  One case of Cinnamon Churros (yum) provided by Rudolph Foods; #89  $100 Gift Card to HomeGoods provided by HG Openhouse; #119  2 Life Journals (one for me and one for a friend) to guide Bible reading and study provided by Mom’s Toolbox.

And if these top three picks are already chosen, I’d love any of the following:  19, 21, 22, 26 and 91 or anything related to young women as my daughters are 16 and 19.

There will be so many new relationships built after this week of blogging frenzy.  I’ve put a cute little Ultimate Blog Party 2009 button on the left just above my blog roll.

Now I know this site and this party is basically for Mom’s but they make it very clear that Dad’s, and anybody else, for that matter, can join.  So, for my party post, I’m sticking with what this site is dedicated to doing and that is teaching people about wine from the ground up.  As I’ve stated before, I, Phil Anderson, am certainly no wine expert but I do love wine and am enjoying learning as much as possible about it.  As the subject of wine can seem very intimidating to people, my goal is to teach about wine in very simple terms.

I know Mom’s (as well as Dad’s) around the globe work very hard in raising children so that they’ll become an integral part of society.  I myself am a father and I’m very proud of my daughters.  I know at the end of the day a little peace and solitude (sometimes VERY little) is sought and when that time comes it can really help to have it include a nice glass of wine.

So today’s post is about a wine that I feel can be a great everyday wine.  As we read and hear about seemingly every hour of every day, household budgets have taken a hit so people have had to find ways of trimming their  costs.  So how do you trim your wine cost without effecting quality?

That brings me to my–

Loop Throwing #2:

You know when you buy a very inexpensive bottle of wine just so that you can enjoy something at some point of the evening?  You don’t need to break the bank and you can’t just coninue to drop 10-20 bucks for a bottle of wine every night.  It’s not financially prudent.  So you go for something under ten bucks…ok, sometimes even under FIVE bucks.

Everyone (well, most people who drink wine, anyway) has heard of Two Buck Chuck, Charles Shaw Winery’s low end, “everyday” wine.  We tried that and weren’ t very impressed.  The Chardonnay was flat and the Merlot sweet.

So, while shopping at Walmart (I know, I know, but don’t get politically correct on me, now), Shelley saw an Oak Leaf Vineyards Chardonnay and Merlot for, get this, $2.97 each.  Suffice it to say, we weren’t expecting ANYTHING, let alone, nothing much.

We opened the bottle of Chardonnay, poured, toasted (stay tuned for what our tratitional daily toast is and how it came to be in the next General Wine Thoughts post) and tasted.  What came next was, well surprising, to say the least.  It tasted pretty good!

The Chardonnay had very little, if any, oak and it was crisp and clean.  Most inexpensive Chardonnay’s have an off smell followed by an off taste which leads to an off opinion.  This had a hint of on off smell, just at the finish, but was rather pleasant.

The Merlot was not quite as good, but still, not bad at all.  Not much of anything on the nose.  You expect some rich berries when you smell a Merlot.  The taste was also pleasant.

The label didn’t give much information about Oak Leaf Vineyards except that they’re located in Ripon and Livermore (two cities?), California.  I did find out that they brought home the Gold at the 2008 Florida State Fair.  Both of these wines were non-vintage so they can use grapes from many vintages.  That also means the wine will likely be very consistent.

To end this post, I would like to encourage you to pick up a botttle of one of these Oak Leaf Vineyards wines at your local Walmart and give it a go.  I think you’ll be surprised.  And if nothing else, it will give you a little “me” time after giving so much of “your” time, although deserving, to your kids.