Wine for Making Plans

What's that old saying: "We make plans and God (or the Universe) laughs"?

Well, I wouldn't say the Universe is full-on laughing, but it's certainly having a good chuckle at Steve's and my expense.

Here's how:

1. Steve decided to file his citizenship application two weeks ago, and we are hoping that he gets an appointment for fingerprinting before we leave on June 8th, otherwise he will have to abandon this application and start all over again when we return to the U.S. in November.

2. We had this great plan to take advantage of one of the lease buy-back car programs in Europe where you rent a new car from Peugeot, Renault, or Citroen, drive it for up to 5 months, and then return it. This has the advantage of being cheaper than a long-term rental with the added perks of getting a brand new car (and one that gets great gas mileage), full insurance and no restrictions on where you can drive.

However, we have been trying to book said car for the past few days and have encountered the following problem: I cannot drive a manual transmission, and the only automatic car available is the one car that is big (bad idea for small european roads and parking spaces), has bad gas mileage, and costs about $1,000 more.

So our options are either to take this car, or get a manual, which means that essentially Steve has to do all the driving. I can of course, try to learn how to drive the manual car, but as I have mentioned before, I have a bit of an anxiety issue, and anxiety plus stalling car plus not knowing what the hell I'm doing equals panic attack and tears.

3. The medication I have been taking for the past year and a half to help with the aforementioned anxiety has caused me to gain about 15 pounds, which, let's see how do I put this....SUCKS! I am weaning off the meds now, but there is no telling how long it takes for the weight to come off, and I can tell you right now there is no way in hell I am not going to eat crepes in Paris and pasta in Italy. Nor am I going to be the asshole American traveller who asks for whole wheat toast and a soy latte at a cafe in Paris.

So I have resigned myself to elastic-waisted pants and not weighing myself for the duration of the trip.

4. We have just gotten an email from British Airways announcing a possible cabin crew strike between May something and June 9th. This could lead to "service disruptions". We are scheduled to fly to Paris on British Airways June 8th.

5. Ye olde Icelandic volcano keeps spewing clouds of ash, causing airports to close all across Europe.

Ahhhh, travel....

When in doubt, drink wine...

My Wine for Making Plans is a 2009 Merry Edwards Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc. I know I'm on a bit of a Sauvignon Blanc kick the last couple of posts, but this CA Sauv Blanc provides a really interesting contrast to the New Zealand one I suggested the other day.

For starters, a NZ Sauv Blanc is hardly ever aged in wood, more often than not they are aged in stainless steel, leading to a lighter-colored, often shiny, super crisp wine. This Merry Edwards Sauv Blanc however, is a totally different beast:

It is aged in 100% French Oak, which imparts a darker color and a very subtle vanilla flavor to the wine. The most unusual element of this wine for me, though was the thick mouthfeel and slightly toasty, yeasty aroma and taste. This is caused by the time that the wine spends on the lees (the wine is aged along with the dead yeasts leftover from fermentation). So in a way, this wine has an almost Chardonnay-like quality of a thicker mouthfeel, slight toast and a hint of butter (super super slight).

It is still, however, Sauvignon Blanc in flavor and aroma, with notes of apple, unripe pineapple, lime, grapefruit and lemongrass. It is unlike any Sauv Blanc I've tasted before and is really worth a try. On the Merry Edwards website, you can buy the wine for $30 a bottle, though I bought it at a wine store for $27.