Old World grapes always conjure up images of summer nights on the Continent. Tender evenings spent with a loved one in a petite café. Bulls dodged in narrow alleys. Verses writ.
Your dear columnists, once the College’s most prominent Ladd-campus-wide-couch-stander-onners, are now seeking to live the good life. This year we will be sampling the finest wines purveyed by our fair town’s finest purveyor of groceries: Hannaford grocery. By finest wines purveyed by our fair town’s finest purveyor of groceries, Hannaford grocery, we mean the finest wines 10 American dollars can buy.
Will—whose notions of wine and wine-drinking have been most unfortunately informed by his reading of Hemingway while too young —initially balked at the idea of buying wine not corked. But as we made our way down the vino aisle, it was almost as if we heard a faint whisper of a Sicilian ciaramedda in the distance when we came across the 2014 Belmondo. The bottle was unassuming with “Terre Siciliane” emblazoned on the front, indicating its origin from the island’s wine region. Overcome with excitement we made our way home to begin the drinking process. In the hallowed halls of our happy home, 17 Cleaveland Street, amidst clouds of man’s best friends —fruit flies—we began our tasting.
The initial opening of the bottle had Justin questioning whether he lacked a sense of smell, but after pouring into our surprisingly adequate stemware (thanks Old Cleave), an aroma arose.
Half the taste of wine comes from its smell, or so we’ve been told. Needless to say, it’s a lot of fun to swirl the wine in the glass before taking a wee sniff. This particular vintage smells of scratch-and-sniff, generic, what’s-the-first-thing-that-comes-to-mind-when-you-think-of-white-wine white wine. This is not a bad thing. The wine smells like white Concord grape juice poured over playground wood chips. This is not a bad thing.
The initial taste matches the nose. Flavor comes seconds after the sip. Slightly sweet like a crisp, October apple. Eminently palatable, this 2014 Grigio is more than just a little reminiscent of elementary school cafeterias and Juicy Juice 100% Juice. Vague notions of apricot kick around in the back. Dry, but who doesn’t like their Grigio dry? Against a dark background the wine is clear. Don’t be deterred by the screw top. This beverage is worth buying for those who want to dip their toes into drinking wine, but don’t want to mess up their pedicures.
As the wine flows, our conversation turns inward. It’s weird being a senior. Don’t recommend it. It’s easy to sit in your kitchen and feel weird about your past, present and future while your friends play NBA 2K16 in the living room. Wine pairs well with nostalgia.