Kellog's Diner House Cabernet

After the knitting-fest breaks up, we go to eat at the neighborhood diner -- a perfect way to end a night of cool people, laughter, and gossip. Around the table we have all the greats: turkey club, ham-with-egg-and-cheese sandwich, and a delicious chocolate croissant. Relaxing before heading home for the night...

Kellog's Diner House Cabernet: Smells like paint. First taste is totally transparent to the tip of the tongue... Eggy, kind of like tear gas... Rising in the fashion of swamp vapors as it goes down.

Blechs 3/5.

Grüner Veltliner 2009

An artsy knitting circle in the corner table of a hip Williamsburg (Brooklyn) bar on a Saturday afternoon. Talking about plans for upcoming projects, with spicy veggie tacos and chocolate fudge brownies brought from home. Mostly girls of course... and what's wrong with that?

Grüner Veltliner 2009: Odor mild like grape juice... As it begins to pour, a faint earthy smell, reminiscent of the farms of my youth, like the finest of cow poop... Bubbly like ginger ale... A tasteless, stinging ephemera.

Screw top. Alcohol content 14.5%. Price about $13. Blechs 3/5.

Domaine Pelaquie - Cotes du Rhone 2009

Out on the town, friends showing us a new restaurant in the hip part of New York... A small, brick-walled, intimate little place with simply amazing mussels in coconut milk -- merguez sausages -- and roasted balsamic chicken. As we animatedly chat about art, dining, and travel over an early-ish dinner, all the beautiful young people filter in and fill the rest of the tables and bar. Altogether delightful!

Domaine Pelaquie - Cotes du Rhone 2009: An interesting, smooth, fruity, sugary aroma... Promising! The initial taste, smooth and welcoming on the tip of the tongue... And then on swallowing, at the back of the mouth: a shocking, pinpoint starbust of simply jaw-dropping intense pain! Rather like being stabbed in the back of the throat with a rusty dagger for a crisp instant. Really an amazing, almost unbelievable sensation. Confirmed after repeated more sips.

Cork top. Alcohol content 14%. Price about $12. Blechs 4/5.