Learning To Love The Grape

For as long as I can remember I've not been able to drink wine. I get headaches. Not the "Oh! I drank too much," headaches. No, it was much more instantaneous. A sip of wine and it felt like a 5 man Streets and Sans crew was jackhammering on my temples.


Because I never could drink it, I never learned to like it. Wine tasted bad to me. Then in February I went to the Canary Islands (all the pics) with a group of friends. They have a little winery industry there. The land is very, very arid and the soil -- well there is limited soil -- is covered with volcanic rock. So what the vineyards do is to create these arced walls facing the sea that collect moisture and direct it into the ground. They then plant their grape vine in that arc.


Well, everyone I was with was drinking the local wines. They knew a lot more than me and said the local reds were bad. So we were just buying whites. At the bars we drank beer but at the rental villa there was just a boat load of wine. The second night we were out of beer, I had bought a couple bottles of white with the intention of bringing one back and one being for the group. Well, me and Mike, the only guy still awake, cracked open that bottle of white. I was going to drink through the headache come hell or high water.

But there was no headache. At least not like I was used to. Just a minor little tinge in the back. What was this stuff?

Malvasia Blanco from the Bodega Tasca Los Almacenes.


I don't remember enough about this wine to tell you much about it. I have one bottle left (pictured) that I plan to save until Christmas dinner. Which, if all goes as planned, will be the first holiday dinner at my new condo (which I've yet to find). Through the rest of the week I drank quite a bit more wine and I still didn't have any severe negative reactions. I resolved then that I would learn to like the grape.

I've been snapping pictures of the bottles I drank and for myself and anyone else that stumbles across my little corner of the blogosphere will record what I think of them. Remember, I'm a neophyte when it comes to wine. I've brewed dozens of batches of beer and try just about anything I come across. Consequently, I could tell you loads and loads about beer, but wine is new to me. So if you find this and wish to comment, be gentle. Or not. Just comment and that could be cool.

So far I've had about 4 different kinds. All reds besides my Canary Island wine. I'll throw up my thoughts of those as time goes by.