This Flight Tonight

“This Flight Tonight:” How badly can I beat this pun into submission? I refer literally to the Joni Mitchell turned Nazareth 1970’s hit song, and I casually link it to this past Sunday when I was thousands of feet in the sky, heading toward the Phoenix sands. However, it is more or less an excuse to turn an evening of holiday travel into a wine-drinking event.

Normally, ordering a flight of wine is a fun way to experience three similar wines—larger than a sample size, smaller than a full-glass—for a reasonable price. I enjoy ordering flights to start my meal when out at a restaurant and then picking the “winner,” finishing the night with a full glass of the chosen one.

In this case, what better way to soften an evening of blustery winter travels and three-hour layovers than to consume a makeshift flight of wine over the course of several hours and hundreds of miles?
While I was still at home, finishing my last-minute packing and waiting for my ride to the airport, I started my early evening trip with a glass of Castle Rock Zinfandel 2006. I served this wine a couple of nights earlier at a pre-Christmas dinner, and it went over fantastically.

This wine is very reasonably priced at $11 and tops many bottles of zinfandel in the $15 range. This red is very smooth and tasty with notes of dark berries and cherries. I could have easily stayed home
and finished this bottle, but I thought I would save a couple of glasses for the cat sitter. I had a plane to catch, but I will see this bottle again for certain.

We had several hours to wait once we arrived in Minneapolis, and it was dinner time. We decided to eat at the airport’s French Meadow Bakery and Café. And continuing on my parallel flight, I started with a glass of organic Radical Cabernet from Wine Works. I am glad my dinner was good, because the wine was not impressive.

This glass was very sweet with immediate flavors of raisins and prunes—too sweet for my tastes. It was, however, a dry sweet, but by the time I saw the bottom of my glass, I was ready for something different.

I ended up finishing my meal with a glass of Santana Tempranillo 2005. This glass was a stark contrast to the previous one as its flavors were significantly sharper and almost sour with a much thinner feel. I was not disappointed, but I do question the freshness of the bottle. I’ve definitely had better tempranillos elsewhere, usually as part of a blend.

Fortunately, these last two glasses made that final leg of my actual flight rather cozy and opportune for some casual reading, but the best wine was sitting back home in Moorhead.
On my return flight, if we end up stuck in Minneapolis limbo again, I will most likely return to French Meadow, but I will make different selections the next time around.

Until then, I’ll have to see what kind of wine trouble I can get myself into here in Phoenix, and next, in Denver.

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