But that only applies to Anesthetic Drinking- that unattractive thing we do when the bills are mounting up, and the spouse is in a sour frame of mind, and the boss bursts into harsh laughter when the subject turns to next year’s benefits package. Whether it’s an Anheuser-Busch product or some Korean-manufactured distillate doesn’t really matter, what it tastes like isn’t really germane; we just want lots of it.
Fine Wine is another story. About the last thing we are inclined to do at the wine shop, if we follow current events at all, is to fling handfuls of currency on the counter, with the instructions for the honest proprietor to grab a couple of empty cases and start filling them with the finest and rarest vintages (this has actually happened to me. A splendid fellow from DC, whose remuneration package, according to the Internet, was over $7M for the previous year). No, these days most customers shuffle guiltily around, trying not to meet my eye, and shamefacedly put the discounted bottle on the counter, hoping I don’t suggest anything more expensive.
Fortunately, I am ready for this frame of mind. I have introduced the “Recession Rack”- dozens of wines all priced at $9.99, BUT -this is the clincher- buy a mixed case of any of them and take it away for just $100, plus tax and deposit. That’s $8.33 per bottle, for some pretty tasty wines!
Like the Magnificent Wine Company’s House Wine (Washington), or the Chilensis Carmenere Reserve (Chile), or Les Clos from the Dom. Ste. Eugenie (France). Lovely wines, which often make the trip to my house. Or how about First Drop Red from Australia, or the Legitimo Joven Rose from Bodegas San Valero, Spain? Or the Arida Sauvignon Blanc from Argentina, Leese-Fitch Cabernet from California, or a crisp Santola Vinho Verde from Portugal?
Are you really going to have fun like this in the supermarket?
As Slim Pickens put it (as Major Kong in Dr. Strangelove):
“Say, a fellow could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff!”
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