Garnacha.  Garnacha, Garnacha, Garnacha, Garnacha, Garnacha. 
Did you every take a word and repeat it until it just sounds like a bunch of nonsense?  Usually you pick something familiar, like your name, but it's fun with Garnacha.  Garnacha, Garnacha, Garnacha.  And NO, I'm not drunk, I'm just a deep thinker like that.

With over 5000 grape varietals in the world, there's plenty of wine names out there for us to make fun of.  Cork'd lists a ton of grapes on their website; my favourites to snicker over are:

Garnacha
Albalonga
Juhfark
Bastardo
Scuppernog
Uva Rara
Blauburgunder
Dinka
Foch
Gaglioppo
Hondarribi Zuri
Ladikino
Rotberger

Mmmm, pass me some of that delicious Rotberger.

Okay, back to Garnacha.  I had a little spendy spree at the Midland LCBO a couple of nights ago.  Pigs are surely flying, because they actually had some new and interesting pickins this go 'round.  Must be on account of the holidays being right around the corner; they're stocked up on lots of 'gifty' wines and spirits.  Usually their Vintages section has lots of $20 meh-to-okay wine, but they've taken it up a notch with some good looking offerings in the $40-$50 range.  I bought some Brunello, some Rioja, some Barbaresco and--you guessed it--Garnacha (Grenache to you and me).  Specifically, Las Rocas 2008 Garnacha, which I've since tried.  Las Rocas is from Spain, which is a region I have no experience with; this is the bottle that took my Spanish wine virginity! It was a very unusual wine for me; it tasted a lot  like Grenadine or kirsch, and a bit of licorice too.  Unfortunately it didn't really go with any of the food I paired it with, and I might not choose to drink it on its own as it's pretty high in alcohol (14.1%).  I'm glad to have the opportunity, and I probably will have another glass tonight, but I won't be repeating my purchase with this one. 

Garnacha Albolonga everyone!

Barb