Way back when there were sit-down restaurants, we tended to buy wines for a later day.  I guess that later day finally arrived in the longest original fifteen days or was it a month?  Anyways, we have, just like the rest of the state and most of the country have been homebodies forever and we are waiting for parole or amnesty.  I have actually kind of tamed the inventory of wines to at least see what we have been storing, some we have lost and some have been wonderful stories of great winemaking.  There are some in the refrigerator in the garage that may or may not have been so lucky, eventually we will find out. 

Meanwhile, there have been some newer white wines that have been mixed in with the clutter, especially by our dear shopper, who when she sees something that she thinks we would like in the popular price, she will grab a couple and trust me, I am not talking of wines in the fifty-dollar range.  She has also been partial to white wines, since we met, though she has definitely acquired a true liking and appreciation for red wines and red meats.  Though she is still a big fish and fowl fan, and I can handle most of it, though I still have a real problem with ground turkey, but that is my problem.  I also have not tried or plan on trying any of the “Soylent Green” products that have seemed to take up more real estate in chain grocery stores.  One of the more recent wines that have graced our wine vault has been Francis (Ford) Coppola Diamond Collection Emerald Label Pinot Noir California 2018.  Why his middle name has been omitted, is beyond me, though I do know that he was born in Detroit, and that his father who was with the Detroit Symphony, had his son delivered at Henry Ford Hospital, and the Ford family, even back then were major benefactors of the arts in Detroit, so the middle name is an homage from his father.  I digress as I sometimes do, but lately my Bride has had a penchant for Pinot Grigio wines, I guess because they are easy to drink and really for the most part are not fussy, a few of them are, but not really in her quick, grab and go price points.  All of the Diamond Collection, as well as most of the other affordable wines from the Francis Ford Coppola Winery or The Family Coppola are not handled out of the new complex in Sonoma, so that his classic Rubicon from the old Inglenook Estate in Napa Valley is singular and just a drop in the bucket of his annual wine production; he basically moved all of his museum pieces of cinematic lore to Sonoma as well.  We are talking about a very pleasant and easy to drink Pinot Grigio wine with a generic California appellation, though Monterey County is sited for the majority of the fruit, and there is five percent Chardonnay blended in as well.  This is a wine that is aged in Stainless Steel which keeps the fruit forward finish and is made for early consumption and not really designed for long term storage. 

The other wine that I will mention is a Joseph Drouhin Laforet Bourgogne Chardonnay 2011.  I think we actually first had this wine in a restaurant setting, and they have added Chardonnay to the label, as it is probably easier than trying to teach the world that Bourgogne Blanc (White Burgundy) is Chardonnay. Joseph Drouhin is one of leading wine producers in Burgundy.  The company was founded in Beaune in 1880 and the realm of holdings and vineyards grew enormously in the Twentieth Century.  The firm has representation in the Cote de Nuits, the Cote de Beaune, Chablis and the Cote Chalonnaise making wines from simple varietal bottlings, village-level, grand cru and premier cru wines.  This white wine with the most common listing of Bourgogne can be made from the grapes from the three hundred or so communes in Burgundy and they can offer a similar taste style year to year because of the work of the winemaker.  The wine is aged for around seven months in either Stainless Steel or previously used oak barrels.  It is just an easy drinking wine and even as a nine-year-old this wine was still drinking quite well.  It was not fresh, but it was by no means over the hill, so we were happy.