Wine ing

When Syd and I started this extended leave of absence we knew that we'd need to tighten our belts a bit in order to make things work. Buying miscellaneous stuff was the first thing to go from the budget, then new clothes, finally expensive dinners out (in the US anyway) went away. We adjusted to the point that our only remaining vices were Starbucks coffee, good wine and tennis expenses. Eventually, even the wine had to go. We started buying wine in The Dalles for a couple bucks a bottle and ,at the time, we thought we had hit rock bottom. Like most vices, giving them up is just a part-time endeavor. We ran into a wine store the other day and Syd bought a bottle of Phu Ping. A product of Thailand made from mulberries, different, but that's the whole point. We gave it a go. As it turns out Phu Ping (pronounced Poo ping) tasted just like its name: Poo Poo. We should have known.

Our next chance to taste local wines was on our road trip up North. We asked the driver to stop at a fruit stand that was loaded with strawberries, Logan berries and oranges. They also were selling a locally produced wines and juices. With the typical Thai smile, the stand operator suggested that we try a taste of the "wine". Big mistake! It was absolutely awful! It was worse then MadDog 20/20 or Boones Berry Farms. I mean really just nasty. Somewhere between grain alcohol and berry juice gone bad. We smiled and bought some strawberries. They were good.

Finally, we found a Western styled Cheese, Meat and Wine store. We found some decent (not great) wines: mostly French, Italian, Chilean, and Australian. The prices however,were outrageous. I was familiar with a number of the wines, wines that we'd pay $4-12 for. Here they were starting at $30! We've broken down a couple of times and paid the ungodly sum, for the most part however, we are starving for good wine.