Miss D. and I spent a few hours stocking up on wine and spirits to take to Texas with us – some to restock our own cellar, others as gifts and “Thank you!” tokens for friends.
We headed up to Clarksville first, to our old standby, Beachaven Winery. They make some seriously good wines there, and fortunately Miss D. shares my taste in them, so we can stock up on varieties we both enjoy. We’ve ended up with the equivalent of four and a half cases; two dozen whites (Chardonnay and Riesling), two dozen reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chambourcin), plus a few individual bottles of this and that. We’ll be hosting our Texas friends for supper on a regular basis, I’m sure, and I’m looking forward to introducing them to the best wines we’ve found in Tennessee. (They, in turn, assure me that Texas has a very good selection of vineyards and some excellent vintages. Miss D. and I look forward to discovering them.)
From there we headed back to Nashville, to the famous Frugal Macdoogal liquor store. They have a nice selection of single malt Scotch whisky and imported wines and liqueurs, amongst other goodies. Old NFO has a pleasant surprise in store, and Lawdog’s request that we keep our eyes open for a good ruby port and a nice Spanish Rioja has been fulfilled. We also indulged ourselves in a bottle of liqueur apiece for leisurely consumption over the next year or so. (Neither of us are heavy drinkers, but now and again we enjoy a shot of something pleasantly alcoholic with our postprandial coffee).
Now it’s back to the packing and preparations for the move. There’s a lot still to be done.
Peter
I'm happy you have a supply of wines you like.
I hope you will take a tour of the Texas Hill Country wineries. I did last Fall, and it was impressive. I think you'll find some new favorites.
I remember my dad (documented as guest-blogger on OldNFO's blog) used to shop at Frugals. I never was present for his shopping expeditions and thought that he was joking about the name. Shame on me.
Sorry you're leaving Nashville, but I understand the reasons. Safe travels and Hi to all the reprobates in TX.
Whisky? Only a good singe Scotch whisky does the trick
Try Talisker from the only distillery on the Isle of Skye. Bowmore and Laphroig, Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain from Islay are some of the deepest flavoured Scotch whiskies. Smokey, warming, smooth, everything a good Scotch ought to be. Add nothing but a dram or two of room temperature of water, sip and hear the bagpipes sing!
Uisge beatha. The water of life, especially when it's bl**dy cold!
Who stole the 'l' from 'single' in my first line????
Just out of curiousity, I wonder what the alcohol import limits are for the states you'll be driving through.
Back when I worked in DC, during the holiday season the Maryland and Virginia alcohol tax agents used to park across the street from Central Liquors(9th street NW, a block or so north of the Hoover Bld) and watch for cars with MD or VA tags loading up. They'd follow the cars that had a case or two in the trunk and stop them once they had crossed out of DC (MD had a 2 gallon limit, can't remember what Virginia's was). The purchaser not only got hit with a "taxes due" notice, there was a stiff fine for not paying the tax in the first place and the booze got confiscated.
Used to live in a little border town on the Mississippi river on the Illinois side across from Iowa. Everyone bought groceries in Iowa (no sales tax on food) and booze and lottery tickets in Illinois. Iowa at that time had no lottery and all hard liquor could only be sold out of the state store with one state store per zip code. As I recall the law was such that you could legally only bring across two bottles of hooch into Iowa. Every year around the holidays they would make a big deal of showing law enforcement pouring the contents of hundreds of bottles of confiscated liquor down the drain. Iowa also required bars to buy all their product from the state, and every bar had a device that was essentially a barrel with a piece of rebar sticking up with which they were required to break out the bottom of each bottle when it was empty to prevent them from refilling state stamped bottles from cheaper booze bought out of state.
Of course I now live in Alabama with almost as crazy laws on alcohol. Good thing I rarely drink these days.
Your list was sadly missing one of the finest of all American wines – Cisco. It's a fine aperitif or digestif and a meal replacement for that matter. A gentlemen's cellar isn't complete without a selection of Cisco varieties.
You can laugh but our favorite moscato is Duck Commander Miss Priss. Doesn't cost a lot. We get it from Walmart (makes sense).
Recently, we discovered Ace Pear Cider. My hubby ordered it with a meal, and I tasted. I don't drink a lot, but bought several bottles. Only 5% alcohol. It would be great to cook with too, maybe poached salmon.
Yes, check out the many Texas Hill Country Vineyards. And while you're out roaming make sure to stop at Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood (18300 FM 1826) just outside Austin. It's a famous cash only bbq & winery. Beautiful country drive.
Welcome to Texas! Where in Texas are you coming to? Have a safe trip!
Deborah, I like Miss Priss, too! I also just discovered YellowTail Pink Moscato. Austrailian import, but very nice sipping wine.