A little wine T&A on the river....

What is a simple pleasures way to spend the last of our summer-like Fall days? 

 

 Eating brunch and drinking wine at Madigan's Waterfront Restaurant overlooking the Occoquan River with the Evil Red Genius, of course.

 

 

It was an easy decision to sit out on the waterfront deck.

It was easy to choose the boursin, brie and bleu cheese board with fruit to share.

 

 

 

It was a little more complicated; however, to choose a bottle of wine.

 

The poor young waiter had no idea what he had gotten himself into when he said we could try ANY  of the wines that they had on their list before we chose a bottle.
That poor little boy had no idea what he was up against, now did he?

 

 

First, we tried the William Hill Cabernet Sauvignon.

 

 

Believe it or not, it was too jammy.
It was more like eating fruit instead of drinking wine.
I thought I had bitten into a berry. Bleh.

 

Then we tried the Red Rock Merlot.

 

It was better than the Cab but still not good, and definitely not worth buying a bottle.

 

Mr. Waiter explained to us that one of the best sellers on the menu was the
Alamos Cab from Argentina.
I wasn't feeling optimistic about this one at all but hey, it was worth a try!

 

Or maybe not....
Uh, no thanks.

 

 

Now came the fun part.....
 

The Evil Red Genius was starting to get frustrated and I had a plan.
It was a plan I had from the moment I viewed the wine list.
 I knew she would prefer a red so we'd try them.
 I also knew that we most likely wouldn't enjoy any of the offered reds but I let her go through the ritual.  She is trying to enjoy Chardonnays and has found that she likes the unoaked ones.
Unoaked is basically a marketing ploy and really means that the wine has spent all its time in stainless steel tanks and no time in oak barrels.
I personally find this quite sad but to each his own.
I am just thrilled that I have been able to broaden the Evil Red Genius' horizons in the world of wine. She's such a trooper!

 

As a result, we shared a bottle of the
 

William Hill

2012 Central Coast

Chardonnay!

 

 

I have had this one before and had a hunch she'd enjoy it!

While I like this one, I prefer the William Hill North Coast Chardonnay instead because of its brown spice notes and creaminess. I prefer the Central Coast one with seafood because it balances the minerality, citrus and spring grass notes well.

 

Regardless, William Hill makes an inexpensive (much cheaper at stores than at restaurants, fyi) delicious Chardonnay for even the pickiest of Chard drinkers!

 It also has such a clean and simplistic label which is right up my alley!

 

 

 

While we were sipping our wine alongside the Occoquan River, we also decided to share the french dip sandwich with onion rings and

and the chicken and goat cheese quesadilla.

 

It wasn't the best food I've ever had but certainly not the worst.



 Besides we were outside on the water with wine and each other.

What more did we really need?

 

 

After Madigans, we did a little shopping, stopped at Bottle Stop for a free tasting and then stopped at Tastefully Yours for a free tasting.

They're free and walkable so we couldn't pass up those opportunities!

 

It was interesting at Tastefully Yours because the lady pouring the wines kept staring at me; not in a creepy way but in an adoring sort of way. Come to find out she tells me I have beautiful eyes and that they remind her of her mother's - the hazel with that dot of brown around the center!  As the conversation goes on, I find that her mother has passed and they were very close. Oddly enough and difficult to explain, I felt this connection to her and it actually made us both very emotional but in a comforting way. I felt overjoyed and honored to have brought a piece of her mom to her in such a simple but heartfelt way. Of course I wanted to tell her that this wasn't an accident; that it was her mom's doing and that her mom's spirit was indeed there with us and smiling. I was hesitant because 1) I never know how people will react and 2) I obviously hadn't consumed enough wine or I wouldn't have thought twice about saying it!

 

Our goal for the day was to stop at Mom's Wine Shop to see my good buddy, Keith, and we were definitely going to save the best for last!!

 

 

My friend Don was also there as the guest pourer and I was so excited!!
Both of these wonderful men used to work at my happy place and it did my heart such good to be with them again!

 

 

The Evil Red Genius had only met Keith a few times before but as you can see, it only takes once to fall lin love with Keith!

 

 

 

I honestly don't remember how this came about but I'd be remiss if I didn't put it in this post.

 

The Evil Red Genius and Keith came up with a different wine-friendly description for the

well-known T&A reference....

 

T&A = tannins and ASScidity

 

Don is an Italian Wine Specialist for Vinifera Imports so obviously the tasting table was a plethora of Italian wines. While I admit I don't know much about Italian wines and I am trying my best to learn more about them, I still wasn't too enamoured by them until..... he brought out the good stuff!

(I also fell in love with the Coravin and may have to drop $300 as a Christmas present to myself.)

 

While we were fortunate enough to try numerous delectable special Italian wines, this 1997, yes I said 1997, Barbaresco, was divine!

It smelled and tasted of mushrooms and roasted tomatoes.

My description could not do this wine justice but trust me, it was absolutely scrumptious; like nothing I have ever tried before. I still can't get over the fact that it was a 1997 and don't know what I did to deserve being able to taste it! Thank you so much, Don!

 

 As if this day couldn't get any better, in comes Tommy!!

It was like old home week from my happy place!

It was so wonderful to have them all together again!

 

 

Each time we venture out to Mom's we become more and more comfortable. 

This time, the Evil Red Genius decided to hang out behind the counter.

Good thing, Keith didn't put her to work!

 

Ah, such a great time.....

My face was hurting from smiling so much and my stomach was hurting from laughing so much.

 

Simple pleasures, my friends.

Simple pleasures.

The only way to go!

 

 

 "In Italy, they add work and life on to food and wine."

 - Robin Leach