It was a happy day when I discovered that there really is a way to keep an opened bottle of red wine around for a week or so without it spoiling. Wine is, after all, is good for a woman’s brain, plus it tastes nice. Well, some of it tastes nice.

Lately I’ve been drinking a 2001 Chateau de Lavagnac that a nearby wine shop is carrying, and discounts to a reasonable price if you’ve signed up for one of their customer cards. It’s a nice wine, friendly, very drinkable. When I stopped in tonight to pick up another bottle, though, I was temporarily waylaid by a salesman who was set up behind the shop’s tasting counter. He had a couple of Australian and California wines there. I tried a California Merlot. No sale. It tasted harsh to my palate. Chain restaurant wine.

Perhaps it needed to be electrocuted.

Or perhaps it would be okay if I just ate cheese with it:

NEXT time you are organising a cheese and wine party, don’t waste your money on quality wine. Cheese masks the subtle flavours that mark out a good wine, so your guests won’t be able to tell that you are serving them cheap stuff.

“Cheap stuff”?

Do they mean, like Mad Dog 20/20 cheap stuff?

lol

“Better serve the strong cheese tonight, dear . . . “