My Corona-loving Boyfriend freely admits the first time he ever drank a full glass of wine on purpose is upon meeting me. At first he was tolerant, as men always are in the beginning. He would look sceptically at the wine I poured for him as if it was neon green and boiling, then put it up to his pursed lips and might have let a drop or two past before wincing and returning to the cool comfort of his Corona. I learned quickly that glasses of wine were not going to get me anywhere with him. After all, if I couldn't get this man to drink wine, our future together looked rather bleak. (Don't get me wrong, I love a cold beer as much as the next red-blooded American, but I couldn't picture a lifetime of romantic evenings by a crackling fire with a bucket of Bud Light at our sides.) I shifted my attack plan from glasses to tastings. It was simple, really. Every time I would drink a glass of wine, I would ask ever so nicely that he taste it. For me. Please. Pretty please? And being the fantastic guy he is, he would oblige. There were countless grimaces and frowns and rolled eyes, as expected, but then something crazy happened. Raised eyebrows. The true sign of surprised pleasure. He would taste, the eyebrows would kick in, and he eventually began to admit the wine was "not bad". Mission accomplished. Sort of.
Fast forward a couple years to a dinner out with friends. (In case anyone actually reads this and happens to live in the Sacramento region, it was Bistro 33 in El Dorado Hills. If you continue reading you will no doubt hear about it again, as it is one of my favorite places.) Fellow Winos, they perused the wine list and picked out a bottle of 2008 Layer Cake Malbec. I wasn't sure I had ever had a Malbec before, so I was interested, and my boyfriend went along with the group and gladly accepted an entire glass. Big step. Imagine my surprise when the eyebrows went up and instead of "not bad", he actually liked it! He really, really liked it!
If my memory serves me correctly - but let's be honest, there was wine involved so I'm not counting on it - we went through the first bottle and ordered a second. I guess that's what happens when you have four people drinking, instead of three and one guy downing import beers.
So I rushed to BevMo, signed up for the club card, and stocked up on 2008 Layer Cake Malbec. At $16.99 it's a decently priced wine and with the club card it's usually on sale for less. I did find it at Raley's/Bel Air and I believe it was an even better price.
So I now try to keep at least one bottle in the house for those nights when he feels like wine. And every time we see a Malbec, we grab a bottle and try it out. So far nothing has beat the Layer Cake, but he drinks the new bottles every time. I'm not sure who it makes happier, him or me. He loves the wine and I love that he loves it.
He would kill me for saying this, but the guy likes sweet wines, which is why he loves this wine. It is pretty sweet, but full-bodied and dark. Kind of like him....
Our search for more Malbecs will continue, and we welcome suggestions! :)
Article to check out: The New Black - 6 Things You Should Know About Malbecs
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