Wine Snobs

Some of my kids are wine snobs. That is to say they know and appreciate good wines. They've studied, have taken gourmet/wine tasting tours to Napa and Sonoma valleys and have hosted their own wine tasting parties.

I, on the other hand, like to have a glass of white wine in the evening. That's about as discriminating as I get. I've been drinking wine for about eight years. (Not constantly, just a glass or so some evenings.) Prior to that I was a teetotaler for my entire life.

On Labor Day I went with a friend (a former Baptist minister but she, too, likes a glass of wine occasionally) to see the Indy movie "Bottle Shock" staring Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman. I love Bill Pullman. He played the dad in this movie but he was still as sweet and sexy as all get out.

"Bottle Shock" is about the historic 1976 French wine competition that put California wines on the map because a California winery, Chateau Montelena, won the blind taste test.

Prior to that, French wines were IT! Afterwards, not only were American wines prized for the first time but wines from other countries became acceptable (even though they were the same wines they had always been producing.)

I'll never be a wine connoisseur, i.e., snob, but the movie was interesting, beautifully filmed, and taught me some things about wines as well as reminding me of how important it is for people to pursue their passion.

It was worth the price of the movie ticket to see Alan Rickman (who always plays a snob) struggle with eating a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken in his rental car. Not to mention having to drink fine Napa Valley wine from a jelly glass.


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