House of the New Pope

Most Americans do not know anything about wine.  The trend is malbec from Argentina and pinot noir from either California or Oregon, which confirms the point in the prior sentence.  Malbec for the most part is a cheap forward fruit wine with minimal complexity sold on the bottom shelf at grocery stores.  American pinot noir tends to be on the forward fruit side as well but no quite as rich or dry as the prior. It would be unfair to say that there are not fine examples of mablec or pinot noir but one will have to pay upwards of $50 - $150 to find a quality minded producer and even then these wines can still leave one wanting more.

Châteuneuf-du-Pape, produced in the south of France, transforms it's 13 allowed grape varieties into a manner of smell, taste, texture and balance that the aforementioned Malbec can not achieve. At this moment forget grapes and drink wine of a place.

Caged

There are many ways to start off the New Year. Staying in while allowing all the wildcats have at it is my usual stance.