I’m 21! 21,000 blog hits & Luchador to celebrate!

That’s 21,001 hits as of this minute! I can drink now! Whoo-hoo! Good thing I’m legal since I consumed quite a bit of wine, like the Luchadore below, tonight at the Animal Fair Party!

My favorite of course was an Aussie shiraz–R Winery’s Luchador Shiraz 2006! Pictured is “El Jefe;” we drank “Gigante”–there’s 4 different Luchadors to choose from! No surprise this came from Grateful Palate Imports and was PERFECT for the tritip BBQ, roasted corn, chili beans! Luchador shiraz  can stand up to ANYTHING you might throw at it since it has so much flavor, liveliness, PERSONALITY! We were battling for the bottle, I admit! At 15.5% alcohol, it’s a tad hot (and I didn’t get a chance to cool it a bit before we drank it), but remarkably well-balanced (at least that’s what several people remarked!) And what a conversation starter! Seemed like everybody there had at least a taste as we shared glasses and conversation amongst good friends (like, wow, this is really good! for example…). You can find it for about $15, which is a great price for a wine with this much pizzazz. But hey, it’s a Chris Ringland wine–what else would you expect??

Plus I had some Red Jest, a great American bargain blend at $3 from Trader Joe’s! Definitely going back for more of this lovely, easy to drink (especially at that price!) wine! And the label was fun for the evening too. Tasted an American syrah from Radonovich Winery (good but mmmm love those Barossa Valley shiraz!) and sipped a little Velvet Moon Cab (value priced at $6 at Trader Joe’s). Split a yummy Kennebunkport blueberry wheat beer, AND carried and drank a homemade ginger-lemonade tequila-gran marnier margarita down to the beach for the fireworks (in my leopard print skirt and pill box hat! really!). Started the party off with an iced coffee with coffee liquor and irish cream! All things in moderation–hic (just kidding).

Thanks for helping me get to 21!