sparkle

Finally, there is sun. And finally, I can think straight again.

There is so much catching up to do.

We had this Shiraz -- my first sparkling Shiraz -- several weekends ago. (Yes, when it was still raining. I remember the plan was to do everything possible to avoid leaving the house. Too cold. Too much water.)

Jessica came over. We ate Zachary's pizza (spinach and mushroom, and because the wait was so damn long, we got the kind that you finish baking in your home oven for 20 minutes). We watched an early press copy of "Friends with Money." (Why does Joan Cusack have such a strange voice?)

And I forgot to take notes on the wine.

So here are the notes I was given when I purchased it about a year ago through Garagiste for $15.89:

"Sparkling Shiraz is a somewhat idiosyncratic beverage that is not only all the rage in Australia, it is a proud and longstanding tradition. It is one of the most popular wines in Australia yet few have had the guts to export it. Few, if any, of the top examples have been available in the US and most are overtly sweet and somewhat cloying. Today's offer represents the best of the genre from a new, highly respected entity that is out to prove sparkling Shiraz's worth in the international market. ... Initially, the residual sugar is so light that it is almost imperceptible -- it unfolds with time in the glass but is never overdone. The wine finishes with a noticeable bite at the back end that is at once refreshing, pure, grapey and unusual (the opposite of something like the Fox Creek Sparkling Shiraz which is quite sweet and cloying). The longer the wine sits in the glass, the fruitier and richer it becomes. The wine should retain this character for a few more years and the potential for short ageing is certainly there (there are classic examples of aged sparkling shiraz from the 1970s that are still at peak)."

I still have one bottle left. Next time, I'll remember to write it all down.