Wine Bazar

I have been looking forward to this tasting ever since I heard about Catavino’s Virtual Rosé Tasting a week or so ago. Ryan and Gabriella at Catavino want to encourage folks to explore wines of the “Iberian Peninsula” - for the geographically-challenged, this means Spain and Portugal. The rules that Catavino set for this virtual tasting are pretty simple - pick out a Spanish or Portuguese rosé, and compare it to a rosé from virtually anywhere else. You don’t even need a blog to join in on the fun - you can post your comments directly to Catavino’s forum!

I chose to compare a Spanish Navarra rosado with a French Côte-du-Rhône rosé, mainly because I conveniently had both wines in my collection - no need to drive to Virginia! I also thought: Northern Spain, Southern France - the wines should be similar, yes?

The Spanish wine was a 2006 Viña Rubican Rosado from the Navarra region of Northern Spain. According to Catavino, Spain classifies rosé wines into two categories: rosados and claretes. Rosados are apparently what we typically think of as rosés - light to dark pink in color. Claretes aren’t so much a rosé as a very light red wine. How does light red differ from dark pink? I have no idea - but now you know what I know.

The French wine was a 2006 Domaine Guy Mousset Cuvée Réservée Rosé from Côtes-du-Rhône. I would love to give you more information about it (love to find out more myself!) but I have the hardest time finding out anything about specific French wines on the ‘Net. With any American wine, Google to the rescue - I can learn what varietals are in it, probably even find tasting notes and technical data from the winery. But with the French wines - nothing. The only link I could find to this wine is on Cellar Tracker. So, I’m not even sure which grapes this wine was made from. I see this as yet another hurdle French wine has in gaining widespread acceptance with American wine drinkers, particularly younger wine drinkers. We demand more information about our products, and the French wine labels and limited online data are unable to satisfy our demands.

Anyway, on to the good part - the tasting!

I didn’t even need to open the bottles to immediately notice a distinct difference between the two: the color. Here are two different shots that highlight this - the French rosé has a light salmon color, while the Spanish rosado has a deeper, redish-purple color.

OK, so I probably should have rotated that top picture so that the rosé was always on the left, rosado on the right, but you get the idea. I found myself liking the color of the rosé more - it just looked more elegant in the glass. You’ll also notice from the first picture in this post that the two rosés came in differently shaped bottles: the Spanish rosado came in a high-shouldered Bordeaux style bottle, while the French rosé came in a more gently-sloped Rhône style bottle.

As for the nose: the rosado smelled, well, kind of grapey. Actually, if you’ve ever taken a tour of a winery, it reminded me of the room where they store all of the aging oak barrels - damp, slightly sweet, and a thick grapey aroma. It also reminded me a bit of the smell of port. The rosé had a much lighter, sweeter nose, with hints of strawberries and citrus.

For the actual tasting, I admit - I went full-bore wine geek on this one. I used a wine thermometer. The absolute height of wine snobbery, I know, but I was inspired by Winedeb at Deb’s Key West Wine & Garden blog. I always like how inviting her pictures of whites and rosés look - seeing as how she’s in Key West, the bottles get a nice layer of condensation on them probably immediately after taking them outside. They also heat up pretty fast, so after she’s done photographing them for her blog she sticks them back in the fridge to cool down again before tasting, and uses a wine thermometer every now and then to check and see if they’ve chilled enough to be enjoyable.

So, I was digging through my kitchen drawer of wine toys, and lo-and-behold: I actually own a wine thermometer! After reading Winedeb’s posts, I had to try it out and see how/if the temperature affected the taste of the rosés. After my two bottles were done with their photo shoot, both were at 54° F. Judging from my wine books, this should be the perfect temperature to drink them at: most books seem to say that 50°-55° is right around where you want to serve rosés.

In the mouth, all of the light, sweet strawberry and citrus on the nose of the French rosé completely vanished. I was really just getting textures at this point rather than flavors - medium to full-bodied with some bitterness across the back of my tongue, and a slight creaminess to it. There was something annoying me about this wine though, and after letting it sit in my mouth awhile I decided it was the strong oakiness to it. I’ve never really been a fan of big oak, preferring “No Oak Chardonnays” fermented in stainless steel tanks to their often over-oaked brethren. So I wasn’t too happy when some oak showed up in this rosé, but if you like oaky Chards then this wouldn’t be a turn-off for you. The French rosé was otherwise pretty tasty. The Spanish rosado had a very different flavor. There was a tanginess to it, somewhat lemony. It has less body than the French, but more acidity.

By this point the wine had warmed up a bit - 57° F said my trusty thermometer. Both wines now seemed to have a bigger, sweeter nose. I thought I started smelling some vanilla in the rosé, while the rosado had an aroma like a dark red rose. A little bit of fruit flavor also crept in to the taste of the rosado, almost a sour cherry - still quite tangy.

Overall, both Kris and I liked both wines better when they were a bit warmer - warmer than you are apparently “supposed” to serve rosés. I liked to color of the French wine better, but enjoyed the uniqueness of the rosado, and definitely preferred the flavor of the Spanish wine over the French. We had some Parado cheese and crackers as an appetizer, and the rosado went perfectly with this tangy cheese. However, with our dinner of grilled salmon, the French wine paired much better.

Final recommendation - I enjoyed trying these wines side-by-side, but neither offered me what I’m looking for in a rosé. When I think rosé, I think picnic wine - something to sip on a warm summer day while out in the yard or playing croquet or something. Neither of these wines were “refreshing” enough to do that for me. I know, rosés are supposedly the “new thing” in wine, and I’m probably still a little gun-shy from White Zinfandel to have a completely open mind on rosés. I also just don’t know enough about rosés to have some idea of what to expect when I pop the bottle. Because of this, I think I feel safer with whites for warm weather enjoyment and meals as I have a better understanding of what the wine is going to taste like.

However, both of these wines were still quite tasty in their own very different ways, and I think I’ll keep trying out different rosés this summer. From my experience thus far, I think there are probably better rosé values out there than the wines in this tasting. Both of these wines were purchased for $9 at Total Wine in McLean. For one dollar less per bottle, a couple weeks ago I tasted a 2006 Anakena Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé from Rapel Valley, Chile that fit my “summer rosé” criteria perfectly. I recommend going out and giving that one a shot. Perhaps I’ll pick up another next time I’m out, and pair the Anakena off against another Euro rosé, and see who comes out on top!

Original post by Nate

I have been looking forward to this tasting ever since I heard about Catavino’s Virtual Rosé Tasting a week or so ago. Ryan and Gabriella at Catavino want to encourage folks to explore wines of the “Iberian Peninsula” - for the geographically-challenged, this means Spain and Portugal. The rules that Catavino set for this virtual tasting are pretty simple - pick out a Spanish or Portuguese rosé, and compare it to a rosé from virtually anywhere else. You don’t even need a blog to join in on the fun - you can post your comments directly to Catavino’s forum!

I chose to compare a Spanish Navarra rosado with a French Côte-du-Rhône rosé, mainly because I conveniently had both wines in my collection - no need to drive to Virginia! I also thought: Northern Spain, Southern France - the wines should be similar, yes?

The Spanish wine was a 2006 Viña Rubican Rosado from the Navarra region of Northern Spain. According to Catavino, Spain classifies rosé wines into two categories: rosados and claretes. Rosados are apparently what we typically think of as rosés - light to dark pink in color. Claretes aren’t so much a rosé as a very light red wine. How does light red differ from dark pink? I have no idea - but now you know what I know.

The French wine was a 2006 Domaine Guy Mousset Cuvée Réservée Rosé from Côtes-du-Rhône. I would love to give you more information about it (love to find out more myself!) but I have the hardest time finding out anything about specific French wines on the ‘Net. With any American wine, Google to the rescue - I can learn what varietals are in it, probably even find tasting notes and technical data from the winery. But with the French wines - nothing. The only link I could find to this wine is on Cellar Tracker. So, I’m not even sure which grapes this wine was made from. I see this as yet another hurdle French wine has in gaining widespread acceptance with American wine drinkers, particularly younger wine drinkers. We demand more information about our products, and the French wine labels and limited online data are unable to satisfy our demands.

Anyway, on to the good part - the tasting!

I didn’t even need to open the bottles to immediately notice a distinct difference between the two: the color. Here are two different shots that highlight this - the French rosé has a light salmon color, while the Spanish rosado has a deeper, redish-purple color.

OK, so I probably should have rotated that top picture so that the rosé was always on the left, rosado on the right, but you get the idea. I found myself liking the color of the rosé more - it just looked more elegant in the glass. You’ll also notice from the first picture in this post that the two rosés came in differently shaped bottles: the Spanish rosado came in a high-shouldered Bordeaux style bottle, while the French rosé came in a more gently-sloped Rhône style bottle.

As for the nose: the rosado smelled, well, kind of grapey. Actually, if you’ve ever taken a tour of a winery, it reminded me of the room where they store all of the aging oak barrels - damp, slightly sweet, and a thick grapey aroma. It also reminded me a bit of the smell of port. The rosé had a much lighter, sweeter nose, with hints of strawberries and citrus.

For the actual tasting, I admit - I went full-bore wine geek on this one. I used a wine thermometer. The absolute height of wine snobbery, I know, but I was inspired by Winedeb at Deb’s Key West Wine & Garden blog. I always like how inviting her pictures of whites and rosés look - seeing as how she’s in Key West, the bottles get a nice layer of condensation on them probably immediately after taking them outside. They also heat up pretty fast, so after she’s done photographing them for her blog she sticks them back in the fridge to cool down again before tasting, and uses a wine thermometer every now and then to check and see if they’ve chilled enough to be enjoyable.

So, I was digging through my kitchen drawer of wine toys, and lo-and-behold: I actually own a wine thermometer! After reading Winedeb’s posts, I had to try it out and see how/if the temperature affected the taste of the rosés. After my two bottles were done with their photo shoot, both were at 54° F. Judging from my wine books, this should be the perfect temperature to drink them at: most books seem to say that 50°-55° is right around where you want to serve rosés.

In the mouth, all of the light, sweet strawberry and citrus on the nose of the French rosé completely vanished. I was really just getting textures at this point rather than flavors - medium to full-bodied with some bitterness across the back of my tongue, and a slight creaminess to it. There was something annoying me about this wine though, and after letting it sit in my mouth awhile I decided it was the strong oakiness to it. I’ve never really been a fan of big oak, preferring “No Oak Chardonnays” fermented in stainless steel tanks to their often over-oaked brethren. So I wasn’t too happy when some oak showed up in this rosé, but if you like oaky Chards then this wouldn’t be a turn-off for you. The French rosé was otherwise pretty tasty. The Spanish rosado had a very different flavor. There was a tanginess to it, somewhat lemony. It has less body than the French, but more acidity.

By this point the wine had warmed up a bit - 57° F said my trusty thermometer. Both wines now seemed to have a bigger, sweeter nose. I thought I started smelling some vanilla in the rosé, while the rosado had an aroma like a dark red rose. A little bit of fruit flavor also crept in to the taste of the rosado, almost a sour cherry - still quite tangy.

Overall, both Kris and I liked both wines better when they were a bit warmer - warmer than you are apparently “supposed” to serve rosés. I liked to color of the French wine better, but enjoyed the uniqueness of the rosado, and definitely preferred the flavor of the Spanish wine over the French. We had some Parado cheese and crackers as an appetizer, and the rosado went perfectly with this tangy cheese. However, with our dinner of grilled salmon, the French wine paired much better.

Final recommendation - I enjoyed trying these wines side-by-side, but neither offered me what I’m looking for in a rosé. When I think rosé, I think picnic wine - something to sip on a warm summer day while out in the yard or playing croquet or something. Neither of these wines were “refreshing” enough to do that for me. I know, rosés are supposedly the “new thing” in wine, and I’m probably still a little gun-shy from White Zinfandel to have a completely open mind on rosés. I also just don’t know enough about rosés to have some idea of what to expect when I pop the bottle. Because of this, I think I feel safer with whites for warm weather enjoyment and meals as I have a better understanding of what the wine is going to taste like.

However, both of these wines were still quite tasty in their own very different ways, and I think I’ll keep trying out different rosés this summer. From my experience thus far, I think there are probably better rosé values out there than the wines in this tasting. Both of these wines were purchased for $9 at Total Wine in McLean. For one dollar less per bottle, a couple weeks ago I tasted a 2006 Anakena Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé from Rapel Valley, Chile that fit my “summer rosé” criteria perfectly. I recommend going out and giving that one a shot. Perhaps I’ll pick up another next time I’m out, and pair the Anakena off against another Euro rosé, and see who comes out on top!

Original post by Nate

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Original post by bbeverly

Original post by Nate

If you want to make hot wine you need a volcano, so Jerry Brassfield, owner of Brassfield Estate, bought one right smack in the middle, well not maybe not exactly in the middle, of his 2500 acre estate in the newest California AVA - High Valley. High Valley is north of and above Clear Lake in Lake County not exactly known for great wines , but a significant source of good grapes for some of California’s largest producers. In contrast to most California valleys High Valley runs east/west and thus catches lots of cool marine air and fog from the Pacific making much of it Region I or II in terms of heat units. Micro-climates on the estate vary considerably, thus, Jerry and winemaker, Kevin Robinson, have planted 19 varietals on the site in the experimental spirit of the new world. Who would have thunk it? A new frontier! Right in the middle of California.

Jerry and his cattle ranching family bought most of the original acreage in 1973 at amazingly low prices. The volcano and other parcels were added later. The winery is growing so fast it is hard to keep track of the exact stats. Vines were first planted in 2001, today there are approximately 270 acres planted with a build out to an eventual 500 acres planned for 2010. Production now is close to 50,000 cases and it looks like they are headed toward 100,000 cases. Since Brassfield is one of only a few “estate only” wineries, production will be limited by the number of acres planted. We asked Jerry, why another California winery? Especially now with so much competition from other California wineries to say nothing of Australia, Chile ,etc. Jerry’s just got the bug. Typical of so many “older” entrepreneurs, 67 year old Jerry had an eye for the possibilities of High Valley. According to the AARP, people 55 to 64 years old are more likely than anyone else to start a business. In fact, it appears that Jerry has all the traits of “older” entrepreneurs - a take charge attitude, comfort with chaos, tenacity of a pit bull, creative instincts, enormous self-confidence, a practical bent, and super resiliency. If Jerry were to take the Biz Whiz Quiz, he would probably go right off the scale. Many entrepreneurs come from business families and they are good judges of character - their own and others. Jerry and Kevin brought five of their fun and interesting associates to town with them on this marketing expedition which leads me to full disclosure. These wines were not purchased off the shelf, they weren’t even samples mailed to me. They were part of a tasting paired with dinner at Ruth Chris steakhouse, so take this post with “a grain of salt.” The wines were good, the company was good, the steak was great.

So I really don’t have any specific tasting notes on these wines, but here are myimpressions.The whites should be available as very reasonable “glass pours” in local restaurants. Despite the volcano, the white wines weren’t “hot”, they were cool, way cool! The whites were all unoaked and cool fermented. The Pinot Grigio was perfectly chilled and balanced between the fresh crisp, dryness you would expect and an almost mineral, medium bodied mouthfeel - sort of a cross between American and European style. This is a great wine to look for on a restaurant wine list. The Sauvigon Blanc had the typical varietal aroma and taste of grassiness and grapefruit. A great example of this varietal, although I must confess, I am just not that fond the grapefruit taste of Sauvignon Blanc. The Serenity White Blend is unusual- Sauvigno Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Gewurztraminer, and Semillon. - kind of a kitchen sink blend. This wine is very easy on the palate. All the white are priced at about $15 retail. The reds all seem to have a distinctive signature of earthiness. Is this the terroir of High Valley or the signature of winemaker Kevin Robinson? Probably both, but in any event the wines have character. We tasted a Zin, two Syrahs and two Cabs. The reds are generally priced at $25, except the Monte Sereno Cab which is priced at $40. I liked the Monte Sereno Cab the best - the usual problem - champagne taste on a beer budget. On the whole I preferred the whites. They were whistle clean, true to type and totally refreshing. The reds were good but not real standouts, with the excepton of the Monte Sereno Cab.

Even though Brassfield is not certified organic, Jerry says they are beyond sustainable agriculture, biodynamique practices and into Astral spiritual agriculture. In the California market this may be necessary, especially for a new winery, but as Vladimer Putin said at Crawford, you do what you have to do. And Jerry is good at that. My prediction: Audacious as it is to start a new California winery at this stage of the game, Brassfield will succeed because of Jerry’s drive, his marketing inclinations, wines from a new AVA, and, for the most part, the right pricepoints. This winery has exploded onto the scene in true volcanic fashion and will undoubtedly make a place for itself between the world of corporate wines and petite boutiques of 2000 cases.

Original post by SeattleWineBlog

So I just got done telling you in a previous post what a great value Argentinian Malbecs are, and that you should check them out. While that is still a true statement, I must admit I was a little disappointed with the 2005 Cruz Alta Malbec. However, I think my disappointment was mainly due to the very high expectations I had for this bottle before ever cracking it open.

We had opened up a 2005 Cruz Alta Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ($12 at Total Wine) a couple weeks ago, and were very impressed. The reserve cab was full-bodied, big and beautiful! It had pretty hefty tannins, but was well-balanced with some lighter berry fruit and some intriguing spice to it. Kris and I both loved this wine, and I strongly recommend it. This is why I was so excited to try one of Cruz Alta’s Malbecs, since if they could do Cabs so well I wanted to see what they could do with Argentina’s specialty - Malbec.

The 2005 Cruz Alta Malbec was purchased for $10 at Total Wine in McLean, VA. It had a nose of dark raspberries and plum. On the tongue, the dark fruit held up, and there was a nice earthiness to it, but there was also some unpleasant bitterness. We had brought this wine over to the home of our friends, so were without our decanter. The decanter may have helped with the bitterness, as the wine simply tasted too “tight” and we’ve found that a decanter can often alleviate this.

I feel that I’ve been a little harsh with this wine - we drank the bottle and enjoyed it, but I was just expecting more and was thus overly critical. However, my overall recommendation is still to skip this particular Argentine Malbec. There are definitely better wines out there for $10, and I’d rather see you spend your wine time and money seeking out a more satisfying Malbec. Definitely check out the Cruz Alta Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon though - it’s excellent!

Original post by Nate

“Bordeaux” had always been synonymous with “red wine” in my mind. As I have admitted before, I am definitely a French wine neophyte. Living in California, I was always able to find a Californian (or Oregonian or Washington State) wine to suit the occasion or my mood. Out here on the East Coast, the selection of West Coast wines is a bit stunted, and I’ve had to begin to expand my wine repertoire.

I was thus surprised to stumble upon this tasty “white Bordeaux“. I guess it seems pretty obvious that white grapes are grown alongside their more familiar red Bordeaux cousins of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot and Malbec. But I had never thought of white wine coming out of Bordeaux.

And since I’d never thought about it, I had to learn a bit more about it. I’m a big fan of “full grape disclosure” on wine labels - I want to know which grapes were used in the bottle of wine I’m drinking. Apparently aside from the red grapes I listed above, Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle are also grown in the Bordeaux region and used for white wine. Just like red Bordeaux wine, whites are usually (always?) a blend of two or all three of the white grapes listed.

Based on its name (and taste), I’m thinking that the 2005 Chateau Montet Bordeaux Sauvignon is mainly or completely Sauvignon Blanc. This wine was purchased for $8 at Total Wine in McLean, VA. This wine has a very nice, crisp taste. A little minerally, in a sort of Perrier sort of way (without the bubbles obviously), it also had some subtle fruit flavors, probably grapefruit.

We first had this wine with a Steampot dinner (take-out steamed crab, shrimp, other yummy seafood). This wine paired *perfectly*, with that slight citrusy grapefruit adding nicely to the seafood. We liked it so much that this became our 2nd white “house wine”, displacing the Banrock Station Sémillon Chardonnay blend that had previously held the honor. The Banrock Station wine is a bit sweeter, which tends to pair better with spicier foods like Thai or Indian, but I really enjoy the “clean”, crisp taste of the Chateau Montet Bordeaux Sauvignon.

Overall recommendation - the 2005 Chateau Montet Boreaux Sauvignon makes for a pleasant drinking, clean and crisp summer white. For $8, it has a high quality-to-price ratio, and I’d recommend giving it a shot!

Original post by Nate

One of the things I like most about wine is that it’s meant to be shared. Unlike beer which comes in “single serving” sized bottles and cans, wine comes in a big bottle that’s the ideal accompaniment to any sit-down dinner amongst friends.

Kris and I brought this bottle of 2004 Butterfield Station Merlot over to our friend Alex’s place for dinner the other night. This wine costs $8 at Total Wine in McLean, VA. (I know what you’re thinking - wow, such generous guests… But we were also bringing dinner, and this was just a simple wine to drink while watching Survivor!)

This wine was very briefly our “house red”. A year ago or so, Kris and I decided we should find both an inexpensive red and white wine with “middle of the road” taste that would make them easily pair with a wide variety of dishes, or at the very least just not “get in the way” of the flavors of the food. We would buy these by the case, and just always have them around the house to pop open when we wanted a simple wine with dinner but didn’t want to spend too much money on it, or if we needed a second, or third bottle when we had company over and a higher quality wine was unnecessary at that point.

The Butterfield Station Merlot is a medium-bodied wine which contains 9% Shiraz, 5% Petite Verdot, and 3% Malbec. It is light ruby in color, lighter than I would expect given some of the “darker” grapes it has blended in. When we first opened it, I thought it had a grapey and somewhat astringent aroma - you could feel the alcohol tingling the inside of your nose. Upon tasting, Kris described it as “smooth and round”, with hints of chocolate. She thought it was also tart, something like a sour cherry. Alex thought it was very fruity, especially at the back of his mouth. He said it didn’t have a strong aftertaste, which Alex said was a good thing for him. He agreed with the chocolate. I tasted the chocolate and cherries, some dark fruit, maybe over-ripe raspberries. It had very soft tannins, and tasted a bit juicy. That astringency on the nose was kind of bothering me though. I let it sit for a while in the glass, and that seemed to help.

Overall, I don’t think this wine is quite worth it for the money. I think Kris and Alex were more forgiving than I was, and would rank this wine as a bit of a better buy. I think this wine makes a really good first impression, which is how it ended up as our house wine for about 6 bottles. However, once you get to know it a bit you start picking up on its idiosyncrasies and annoying habits, and it loses a lot of its charm. So, this is a recommendation against it from me.

Instead, I’d recommend our *new* house red, the 2004 Carmen Merlot from the Rapel Valley of Chile. At only $6, this wine has an excellent quality-to-price ratio - especially when you buy it by the case and get the case discount! This could just represent the general trend of our palates moving away from super fruity wines towards a more fruit/earthy balance, but Kris and I really like to depth and added complexity that the Carmen Merlot brings. I’ll write this one up separately the next time we pop open a bottle!

On a related note, I’ve somewhat recently become fascinated with the wines of Chile and Argentina, and I strongly recommend taking a chance and grabbing a bottle the next time you’re at your local (or not-so-local if you’re a Marylander) wine shop. I’ve found that the majority of these wines are of very high quality for the price, and typically have much more complexity to them than you’d expect in an inexpensive wine (not to say that they don’t produce any top-knotch wines - they do). I’ll write up some Chilean and Argentinian wine tips in a later post, but for now I’d look for Argentinian Malbecs and Chilean Carmenères (Carmenère is an old Bordeaux varietal, virtually extinct in its native France which has found its ideal home in Chile; although still widely grown elsewhere and typically used as a blending grape, Malbec has similarly found its ideal conditions in Argentina, where exciting Malbec varietal wines (i.e., 100% Malbec) are being produced).

Original post by Nate

I heard the funniest line of 2007 Thursday night. Not surprisingly, it came from a colleague in the wine industry, someone who also seems to find her day scheduled around beverages.

In an attempt at wit, when saying goodbye, knowing we needed to re-connect again soon, I said, “I look forward to scheduling a beverage with you.”

“Dehyrdrant, Diuretic, or Depressant?” she asked.

I howled with laughter at her epithet- namely, due to its blatant truth. I reflected that I nurse my “bucket of Bodum” loose-leaf green tea (that on the “toasted” vs. “herbal” side, my preference of late) ritualistically each morning, moving into good old fashioned H₂0 on the days that I work out in the am vs. evening; then move back to the remains of the green antioxidants until 11:30am or so, at which point I move into iced tea for lunch. I usually elect to give my kidneys a bit of an afternoon reprieve, swapping water for tea, unless I schedule a late-afternoon meeting with a non-wine industry contact wherein Earl Gray with milk is a must. If industry meeting anytime after 3 pm, it usually involves wine, invoking the “its 5 o’clock somewhere” maxim.

On the detox days, which I strive to make 3-4 days of the week (yes, really), I move from the final caffeination into water for the rest of the day, turning off the tap till the following morning. If it’s a wine night, we usually pop corks between 6:30 or 8 in our house, have a glass and a half each, saving the second half of the bottle for day two.

Dehydrants to diuretics to depressants it seems to be not just a catch phrase- but a way of living. (Alyssa Rapp, Founder & CEO, Bottlenotes, Inc.)

Original post by Alyss