Wine on his mind

Besides the neo-punk-inspired illustration on the front, Chronic Cellars’ 2008 LaMuneca has an interesting little marketing tool at the top of the bottle. The cork is inscribed with this tiny little skeletonface and what appears to be a goblet inside the brain case, a blatant appeal to the naughty pleasures within. “Wishes in one hand, Chronic in the other,” reads the back label, yet another astute nod to our netherworldly side. Besides, this Paso Robles product is made up of 35-percent Grenache Blanc, my favorite white grape in the solar system—add the promise of a trip to the netherworlds, and I gallumphed out my local wine store, my prize tucked safely under my netherworldly arm.

Whoever thought to blend Grenache with grapes from the Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier families sure knows his fruit. He’s concocted a potion that’s as edgy as that tiny little skeleton-face suggests—it’s got a playful bite to it, almost like a Champagne or a Port but without the effervescence (which I frankly find a nuisance sometimes). The abrupt introduction soon gives way to the berrylike aroma and taste, inviting your fill of lighter fare like lamb or fish. And I know I’m always saying this, but dammit, nobody ever drowned quaffing a good wine with ice—this entry is a prime example of how well certain wines stand up to the cold, and tradition be damned. After all, ice wine is made from grapes encased in the stuff, and it’s great. Serving wine over ice just reverses the process, and nobody’s the worse, especially with this one.

That tiny little skeleton-face will cost you $16.50 or so at your store of choice, but it’s my experience that if you ask especially nicely, management will usually sell you the wine and the rest of the bottle to go with it. Meanwhile, the goblet-in-place-of-a-brain thing is actually a de facto license to drink this to your heart’s content. The figurine has let it go to his head; no reason you can’t do the same.