My Wine Styles

(There is a store in Omaha called WineStyles and this post is not to be confused with it. I just thought it was catchy.)

I love food.  And most food connoisseurs love wine.  And I am not most food connoisseurs.  I want to like wine.  I do like some wine, but not usually the wine I’m “supposed” to like.  Not the fancy stuff.  I like the cheap, cheap stuff that’s made with high fructose corn syrup.  You know, the stuff with the screw top cap.  Yes, I’m talking about Arbor Mist, my friends.  I prefer the Blackberry Merlot and one of the white fruit blends, but I can never remember which one it is.  It’s either the Tropical Fruits or the Island Fruits, but seriously, isn’t that about the same thing?!  Actually, no.  One is gross and the other is good, but I can never remember which one is which and I almost always end up buying the nasty one and then swearing I’ll remember for the next time and then forgetting before I end up purchasing it again. 

I also like sparkling wines.  And those are usually fairly inexpensive as well.  I really like most Riesling wines, though some are definitely better than others, and one that I like a lot still comes with a screw top cap.  (One other that has an actual cork has a German name and can only be found in one store in the city so far as I can tell.  And it’s a bit more expensive than the readily available screw top cap one.)  Some friends introduced us to the Amana Colonies fruit wines recently as well.  And, yes, they have screw top caps, as apparently all good wines should. (I know this will completely outrage you wine connoisseurs out there!)  But even some of those are too sweet for me, which is surprising.  (One bottle we recently opened of the Plum variety was NASTY.  We honestly wonder if it somehow went bad.)

I know that a good chef can pair a tasty meal with the perfect wine to complement it and bring out the right flavors.  But that will probably never be me.  (And not just because I don’t ever intend to be a chef.)  Though I’m making progress.  I actually drank a fairly dry red wine the other night and noticed some of the “hints” of flavors in there that before might have completely escaped me.  And I didn’t completely hate it.  But I’ve also never really understood the concept of “developing a taste” for something.  If you hate it, why would you want to consume so much of something you hate in order that some vague and uncertain day out there you might actually not hate it as much?!  Sounds like torture to me.  So I'll just continue to sip my Arbor Mist and be happy.