Wine Shopping in the City.

My Cosmopolitan-city-dwelling readers will find it amusing when I say I've been wine shopping in the city, when what I really mean is I've been to the liquor store in Barrie. Yes, I am hick enough that Barrie is the big city--and proud of it too! Give me Georgian Bay and windswept pines over skyscrapers and glossy restaurants any day! You're jealous, city dwellers; no use denying it. Every May long weekend you flock up here with your flip-flops and coolers and shoulders up to your ears, and leave dirty, relaxed and possibly a little hung over. This is paradise!

However, you city dwellers do have access to things I covet; things that make my mind slip towards thoughts of the city, and its dirty streets, traffic and the smell of hot dogs and feet. And one of those things is access to good wine.

Our liquor store, oh our tiny, understocked liquor store. I can't blame them really. Why would they stock oodles of the good stuff when the town is full of scruffy, grown men who can regularly be seen balancing entire 2-4's on the handlebars of their bicycles? It's not that there's nothing, mind you. There's a couple of shelves of the good stuff. On the plus side, their lean selection makes the wine-choosing process go much more quickly.

On the contrary, Karen and I could have spent an entire afternoon adrift in a constellation of wines during out field trip the LCBO in the 'city'. We had children with us, otherwise we might well have spent all day inspecting bottles in the huge, romantically lit Vintages room. I'm quite sure my expression mirrored Karen's as we floated towards the back of the store; dreamy, eyes soft and lit with the excitement of possibilities.

It's remarkable how much good wine is out there. I could have taken home one of everything, and I might one day--even the $585 bottle of Dom Perginon. But on this visit, I opt for a German Riesling, a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and a blended Tuscan wine. The Riesling comes first; it's a light-alcohol wine that promises to be nice with or without food. Tonight we're enjoying it with a Ginger and Apple Stir fry, followed by Trevor's lemon souffle. I'm trying it first because I suspect it might be the right wine for a friend's upcoming event; my girl Renee is having people over after a baptism, and asked my advice on which wine to serve. Apparantly she hasn't read my blog yet, otherwise she'd realize that I know nothing about wine, and might skip my opinion altogether. I promised Renee I'd find her a wine as supple and yielding as a choirboy (she good-naturedly tolerates my Catholic jokes), and I suspect the Riesling is it.

Until tomorrow!

Barb