Sip Around the World

Last night we, along with hundreds of other like-minded people, went to the Memphis Botanic Garden for the Sip Around the World wine tasting. We found out pretty quickly that by "World" they meant "Napa Valley" but we didn't mind because it got us out of our Australian wine rut, at least for a night.

The last time we attended this particular tasting, we just started at the beginning and tried whatever crappy wine they threw our way, rendering us less able to appreciate some of the finer wines we tried at the end of the night. This year we chose our samples a bit more carefully. We took notes on more than twenty different wines, each of which I'd be happy to have again. (We did not, however, taste the Stag's Leap cabernet, as they had already run out twenty minutes into the three- hour tasting.)

I'll save the specifics about the wines for slower posting days (like probably tomorrow), but I will leave you today with one the highlights of my night. To appreciate this story, you need to know two things:

-My kids call their grandfather "Bwana"
-When asked why my kids call their grandfather "Bwana," I immediately shake my fist at the heavens and exclaim "Damn you, Don Perry!"

In four years of parenthood, I have never actually had the opportunity to curse Don Perry to his face for giving my father-in-law the nickname "Bwana". At least until last night. And because he's a funny guy, he was not the least bit offended that our first meeting involved fist-shaking and eternal damnation. Then he got back at me by taking a picture of us for RSVP, one that I'm sure involves closed eyes and red-wine-stained teeth. So I guess we'll call it even.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I need another glass of water. And maybe some Advil.