And still, my mind keeps going back to the wine that started the afternoon: a light, simple, utterly refreshing pinot grigio by Gabbiano.

Found at the grocery store for a whopping $4.99, this white overachieves like Michael Caine (Have you ever seen him act badly? … And he's in all but I think six or seven movies.)

The flavors are lemon, a hint of melon and more minerals than you get from ground-up clam shells. It also has a slight soapiness that I've tasted in plenty of pinot grigios and, for some inexplicable reason, isn't a bad thing.

And for $5 a bottle, it's reeeally not a bad thing! If you find this wine for that cheap, grab a few bottles to keep on hand. It's an amazing deal and, if it cut through the haze of the aforementioned wine-opening marathon session, it must be pretty good.

Cheers,
TSW

Thanks to the generosity of dear family and friends, a recent Saturday get-together looked more like wine auction. Bottle after amazing bottle were opened, genuinely loved and appreciated and drained faster than you could say "I'll bet that would be better after it's open for an hour."

Sadly, at this soiree no wine was given that opportunity. And if you nursed your glass to allow the wine to really express itself, you were likely to miss trying the two wines that had been opened after it. Unthinkable!

To say we had some good wine would be like saying The Beatles wrote some good songs.