For the past month, I have blogged more about wine, wine tasting and wine related, than anything else. A casual visitor to the site would simply wonder about my obsessiveness.

Sometimes, I wonder myself, where does this obsessiveness (read: passion) for wines stem from? Do I blame my father for introducing me to this fascinating world of wines? A long long while ago, (1960's to be exxact), my father and his friend (as doctors in Europe), drove around in Europe (France, in particular), wine tasting. As kids we (my sister and me) grew up listening to stories about the same and seeing picture slides of his trip. For whatever reason, this seemingly simple pasttime back home, has left a very lasting impression on me. I want to do the same. I want to spend some time 'bumming around' in France. Travelling down rural areas, through vineyards, smelling the air, feeling the soils, tasting the grapes that all go into making some great wines. I know this will happen, it is just a matter of time.

Back to reality, back home, I have also come to realize, that it is the first sight, the first sniff, the first swirl, and the first sip that makes me smile. It is connection of what I have read and what I am tasting, that makes me forget all worries, all concerns. It is those few minutes, when it is the wine and me and nothing else that matters. I have pretty much found myself tune out to all chatter around me. Few days ago, as I tasted the Chateauneuf, Arun (at Bermans) was explaining something to me, as I swirled, sniffed and sipped the wine, there are distinct gaps in my understanding of what he was saying. This was weird, hope I am forgiven. I am not ignoring, it is just that with all my senses, I am essentially somewhere else. After these first sniff(s), swirl(s), and sip(s), it is pretty much downhill from then on. It usually takes a truly exceptional wine, that I proceed to pour out a glass. Note, exceptional has nothing to do with cost of the bottle, but for some blooming reason, they are pretty darn interrelated.

As I write this, I am enjoying a rather spritzy portugese white wine Casal Garcia Vinho Verde. At $8 a bottle it is a decent dry, citrusy, and crisp wine. I should have opened this on a warm summer day with a fruit salad. But, today, I just wanted something light, airy and this delivers.

Besides, it is the evening to break open the Settlers of Catan or Ingeniuos or something or the other to celebrate the fall back of the clocks!