"Pound it, Mom!"

There are few things more awesome than drinking with your parents. The Aging Adventurers and I went on a wine-tasting trip today, and it was strangely entertaining. First we went on a sightseeing drive up into the foothills and then came back down through Murphys, where we went to a couple of tasting rooms, including Ironstone, which I highly recommend. (That tiny town is actually pretty cute, and would probably be fun for you coupley types who like to meander and hold hands and shop at antique stores.)

Ironstone was our last stop, and the place I figured I'd actually buy, 'cause everything's $10. The regular tastings are free, and Mom looked excited to try one, so we elbowed our way up to the bar. We went up for just the merlot, but the guy suggested we start with whites, so what were we to do? We hit the riesling, and it was delicious. Usually I'm more into reds, but this one wasn't scary like chardonnay -- it was light and sweet, and you could hardly taste the alcohol. So from there we tried this pinky blend called Xpression, which totally reminded me of that "Strawberry Wine" song. It was very sweet, with strawberry and raspberry flavors (according to wine guy). And they have apple wine! I'm really excited about that one, because it's so different, and while I love wine, I love juice more. This one toes the line -- gets you loopy without the harsh finish. (See, I'm using my terminology.) And apparently the petite sirah reminded Dad of some wine they had back when they were dating and then they started talking about how they used to buy wine by the case and go tasting all the time. (They would've been fun to hang out with.) It's fun to hear about stuff like that, because it gives me a picture of them as people instead of just parents. And finally, we got to try the sparkling wine (I think the guy could smell a big sale and wanted us as drunk as possible), which set off another round of reminiscing about weddings and New Year's Eves.

So after all that, I ended up with some history, and six bottles of wine. Hooray!