Guardian Angel

Angel wings are beating gently. Harps are playing. Do I hear the sound of beautiful, soft singing? Delicious, mouth-watering taste of grapefruit is in my mouth and wait, what are those other flavors? Passion fruit, melon and a hint of sour apple, perhaps. Could this be what Heaven is like? Nawww. Buddhists don’t believe in Heaven. We believe in Nirvana. YES! That’s it! This is what Nirvana must be like.

Finding the perfect Sauvignon Blanc, served chilled, of course, when the weather here in Seattle is 1000 degrees is the opposite of Murphy’s Law. This, my wine friends, turns out to be extremely good timing. It’s been really, really, really fracking hot here in Seattle for the past several days. It feels like much longer as we in the Pacific Northwest are what's commonly known as weather wimps. Whimper. Whimper. It’s soooo fracking hot!

But I’ve found the perfect cure for those of us who aren’t used to the heat or the sun, not to mention that most of us don’t even have air conditioning in our apartments. Okay! Enough whining about the hot weather. I’m really writing this to tell you about the perfect Sauvignon Blanc so I know, just get on with it already!

Last weekend I went wine tasting with my most devoted follower and wino friend, Gary W, in the warehouse district in Woodinville. We started at Darby Winery to pick up our wine club shipment – a magnum of the Le Deuce (Viognier/Rousanne blend) and a magnum of Aunt Lee Syrah. SCORE!! I’ve blogged and drooled about Darby’s Syrah from a previous vintage called The Dark Side so I was excited about the latest releases. We tasted them both and they were both yummy! I would expect nothing less from Darby. I scooped up a bottle of the newest 750L Le Deuce and two bottles of the 750L Aunt Lee Syrah. I regret not buying more of The Dark Side when I had the chance. When I mentioned to someone at Darby Winery that I had squirreled away a bottle of Darby’s The Dark Side in my wine storage locker, he mentioned offhandedly that his wife would arm wrestle me for it. She’d have to pry it from my cold, dead hands first!

Anywho, we walked over to Mark Ryan Winery next, which is rarely open. We tasted all of their scrumptious wines and I bought a bottle each of Dead Horse and Long Haul. Interesting names and incredible wines. As luck would have it, Gorman Winery was open, another winery that’s only open to the public on rare occasions. They were having a release party so we tasted their Rose, which was absolutely delicious, and the Jacob’s Ladder and The Bully. Lucky, lucky Wine Muse!! After that, we headed over to Matthews Estate to taste what they were offering. Matthews now has a tasting room in the warehouse district for those of you that didn’t know. Who knew? I didn’t. I bought a bottle of their Claret because it was priced at $25, which is pretty inexpensive for their Claret. I guess the economy has had its effect on everyone. We popped into William Church next and I bought a bottle of their now famous Malbec. Award winning!! Finally, we stopped in at Guardian Cellars (cue the trumpets) because I’d only been there once and it was after a very long day of tasting wines with my China friend. At that point, my pallet was shot and I really needed food, not more wine. So we tasted the wines that he had to offer. They were all good but my eyes opened wide (and cue the trumpets again), Guardian’s Angel, the 2008 Sauvignon Blanc made me stand up, salute, say Amen Brother, and “I’ll take a case.” It’s not a bargain hunter’s dream at $20 a bottle but it is a Sauvignon Blanc lover’s dream. It’s everything I love in a Sauv Blanc. As I mentioned earlier, the flavors exploded in my mouth and my mouth watered for a whole glass, not just a taste. I’m sipping on Guardian’s Angel as I write this and it’s hitting the spot to cool me off at the current unnatural and unhealthy temperature of 86 fracking degrees.

But don’t take my word for it. Take a short trip to Woodinville to Guardian Cellars to try their Sauvignon Blanc. Tell him the Wine Muse sent you.

P.S. The most observant of you might notice my Vatican mousepad standing up behind the bottle of Guardian Angel Sauvignon Blanc. What?