Finding myself newly single this summer, I also found myself with a
surplus of 3/4 full wine bottles. Like many stressed out Americans, I
enjoy a glass of wine on Friday or Saturday night, but one's my limit
before I get a blinding headache. And not liking the taste of week-old
wine, I took a cue from Martha Stewart and froze the rest (I learned
this tip indirectly; I've never been to prison.) So now I make
wonderful lamb and steak with garlic, shallot and thawed wine
reduction, but I have to dash to the liquor store each week to get a
drink.
This Friday, after a particularly stressful week in which I mowed the
lawn for the first time ever, weeded until I stopped giving a crap
about what was a dandelion and what was an actual flower, cleaned out
gutters atop a twenty foot high ladder, fixed a wheelbarrow tire and
shoveled four truckloads of dirt into my former pool (whose crater
reminded me of sci-fi movies where alien spaceships dent the farmer's
field), I was more than ready for a drink. Note to self: Future blog
topic: Preventing blisters arising from heavy yard work. Alternate
topic: Buying and Furnishing Your Condo.
Dashing headlong into my local wine shop, I snagged two bottles of
Columbia Crest Reserve chardonnay (boy those Washingtonians sure know
how to grow grapes), set them on the counter, and promptly spied a
cute yellow box.
"What is that?" I asked, the marketing major in me a sucker for cool
packaging.
"It's a Wine Block, new from the Kendall-Jackson folks," said the
adorable bespectacled proprietor. "It'll keep wine fresh forever."
I am picky and don't like to try new things. "I'll take it," I said.
(Told you my week was stressful.)
And it's a phenomenal hit: This amazing invention is great for single
folks like me. It holds the equivalent of two bottles of wine, and
keeps its contents fresh for nearly six weeks! Vacuum packed, it sits
in the refrigerator like a tiny, sunny weekend welcoming beacon. (I
know I'm starting to sound a tad alcoholic, but one's my limit, I
swear.)
I tried the chardonnay, which was quite good. "Bright golden apple
flavors balanced by oak depth and richness from barrel fermentation,"
the wine should be enjoyed "with poached salmon, shellfish, roast
chicken or fettucine alfredo" or, in my case, Special K (I told you I
was single.)
Also available in Cabernet sauvignon and merlot, the Wine Block is
only $9.99. Ask for it at your local wine shop, unless, of course, you
are a beer drinker, in which case you've already been spoiled by
single serving containers. You can thank me later. Cheers!
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