Bridget’s Favorites (I Think)

Bridget loves wine. She may love wine more than I do because she brings it back with her from Rome (along with absinthe for me).

I met Bridget about 3 years ago and made all the wrong assumptions.

Woman like white wine…false. This was one gender assumption which I managed to retain for about seven months until finally she told me “why do you always buy a bottle of white if I’m coming over? I like reds.”

Who is Bridget? Well, we are sidekicks in the sense that we have similar interests and tastes (good food and wine).

Anyways, never assume that women like white wine and men like red. Despite the fact that every movie ever made will portray this (actually, “A Good Year” defies this stereotype), there is absolutely zero factual correlation to the assumption that gender defines taste in wine. Assuming this would be akin to thinking that all relationships follow a close pattern of flirtation, highly stylized sexual bliss, a revealed and shocking secret or flaw, reconciliation, and then marriage.

What does Bridget like?

She revels in table wine. If it’s cheap, from Europe or Argentina, and says table on the bottle, she’s drinking it.

Because of this, I cannot give vintages or even names because table wine is a taste that one has or does not have.

Table wine is usually characterized as a light red. It has minimal oak and usually is comprised chiefly of the most commonly grown varietal of the region (in France, for example, this would be Merlot or Cabernet).

It is a wine meant to be drunk and drunk often and because of this it is usually non-vintage.

Specifically, Bridget especially likes table wine from Argentina, Italy, and France. She also has a weakness for Chianti, the famous wine of Tuscany.

Chianti, made famous by the films “Dumb and Dumber” and “Silence of the Lambs,” must be composed of at least 80% Sangiovese grapes to be labeled a Chianti.

Bridget does, however, like certain white wines as well. Viognier is her favorite, especially if it is from Virginia.

Viognier, is also grown in France, Australia, and California. It is a delightful white with a very floral bouquet and lots of fruit flavors. It is a young wine which tends to lose its nose after a few years. Crisp, yet not sweet, Viognier is often drunk after only one year of aging.

So there you have it. I think Bridget has excellent taste in all things, wine or otherwise.

Try a cheap table wine from Europe or Argentina and I think you may be pleasantly surprised.

Viognier is always a good choice as it is different and accessible at the same time. Bridget also has a weakness for super-expensive sparkling wine but we won’t talk about that.