Abingdon, Virginia is sort of a fourth home to me (behind Blacksburg VA, Hampton VA and EHT NJ, I suppose). Each time I've been back to visit the states, I've gone there for roughly a week. Each time I go, I catch a show at the Barter Theatre, a quaint little-ish (equity) theatre.
A little over a year ago when I was in town for a week, I bought a bottle of "Barter Red" wine, blended in SW Virginia for the Barter Theatre. It's a very plain ("full bodied semi-sweet") red table wine, and probably cost me $8. Fair enough.
I brought it home, over the ocean...to the land of good wine. Funniest thing? For a full year that bottle sat around with all our wines. (By "all", I mean "not too many", as we tend to buy wine when we drink it, which isn't too terribly often.) Why did it sit there? Because every time we drank wine, I wanted to save that Barter Red for a Special Occasion™.
Can you imagine? The following sentence actually came out of my mouth several times. "Honey, let's just go with a 2000 Bordeaux as usual--I don't want to waste the Barter Red."
Eventually, when the move became a reality I decided that I would have to create a special occasion of my own and drink that silly bottle. So I waited until filets were on sale, whipped up some elegant sides, and opened that baby.
My thoughts? Cheap, with a fruity finish.
You might also be wondering why I'm writing about this when I should be packing. Well, I just packed my treasured 2001 White Hall Vineyards Chardonnay (thanks Dave and Derry). That's been here for nearly a year--I've tasted it before so I know I like it. We've had many a Bordeaux Blanc Sec and Bourgogne Chardonnay to avoid wasting the White Hall.
Maybe Valentine's Day will be a Special Enough Occasion™ to treat our palates to some fine Virginia Wine.
amy-
what the heck is your e-mail address? i keep getting mail returned.
-s:)