To 'celebrate' Myles' birthday and Evan turning one month old last week, everyone in the family, except Myles, came down with a summer cold. Thus, tasting our next Alsatian wine has been put on hold until my schnoz is fully recovered. In the meantime, I thought I'd post a little musing I wrote up whilst still pregnant and intended to post waiting for Evan to arrive. Thankfully, he came soon enough I didn't get this up!

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I consider it part of my education to look at wine, wine labels and restaurant wine lists whenever I get a chance. I practice reading European labels (and remembering what might be inside!) and try to familiarize myself with winery names, appellations, varietals, prices, etc. A concurrent shopping trip slash pop quiz, if you will.

One of the most recent places that I found myself perusing the wine aisle was at Target. For the most part, I’d written it all off before even walking down the aisle. There couldn’t possibly be any decent wine for sale at Target. Then, as I scanned the shelves, I noticed a bottle of Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages. Hmmm... wasn’t that one of the examples of Beaujolais mentioned in one of my books? I know I recognize the name Louis Jadot, a commonly seen shipper of French Burgundy wines here in the U.S. Beaujolais (from 100% gamay grapes) is on my list of wines I want to try, although I have specifically marked down I’d like to try a Cru (rather than Neauvou or Villages). I’m intrigued by this red wine that is to be served cold (55 degrees). As I stood in the Target aisle, bottle of wine in hand, I was tempted. Ultimately, I went home empty-handed (well, without any wine, it’s Target-- no one can go home empty-handed), because I didn’t know the answer to this question: is it ok to buy wine at the same place I get my toilet paper and laundry detergent?

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And while we all ponder this question, I want to add that I did pick up a Louis Jadot Beaujolais (the aforementioned red wine disappointment in the previous post), however I didn't ultimately purchase at Target, but Trader Joe's. Of course, once we had the bottle open I realized it wasn't even a "villages" wine, but just generic Beaujolais, lower on the totem pole than the wine I'd seen at Target! Hopefully that explains its disappointing-ness. We tried it cold first (in the rough ballpark of 55 degrees) and it was not really good at all. Letting it come to room temperature improved it enough to finish the bottle. I have decided not to officially post that I've tasted my Beaujolais, as I think there's more there than this particular wine offered. We'll return to it in the future-- at which time I will not purchase the wine at Target. Or Trader Joe's.