Corkscrew - Ode to a Wine Bar
Rhymes plucked straight from the vine
The wine list is daunting,
With so many to choose.
Who can help me?
God, where’s the booze?
But the selection tempts me,
The Cabernet so mysterious.
Fifteen bucks a glass?
Are you serious?
There’s a Sauv Blanc,
A Pinot Gris and a Noir.
Don’t know the producers,
Can I get very far?
Let’s try them all, I say
And get good and drunk.
After the third glass,
You won’t taste the plunk.
Oh! There’s the waiter dude
Who knows all about wine.
Let’s hope he can lead us
To the best and divine.
There’s a steely Pinot Gris,
And a gushing Aussie Shiraz.
A fragrant Cali Pinot,
And a Zin that kicks your ass.
The ball’s in my court,
Not sure what I’ll pick.
The dude is waiting
Damn, decide quick.
Come back to me,
I say with a shy grin,
I’m new at this wine thing,
Don’t know where to begin.
“What is your mood?”
He asks back with a smile.
Light and crisp,
With a price not too vile.
“Your dollars will go further
With wine from far away.
Spain, South Africa and Chile,
From California you must stray.”
I’ll try the Chilean Chard,
Or the African with body.
Or the earthy Rioja
Never too shoddy.
Oh hell, just bring ‘em all
And I’ll conquer the list.
Crumbled under the stool,
Drunken me won’t be missed.
Recommended Wine
Duo 2003 Cabernet Merlot Maipo Valley (Chile). Sweet = 2. $16. Deceivingly like an expensive Napa Cab disguised in a Chilean bottle. Smooth, easy-drinking black cherry, eucalyptus, tobacco, wet dirt, with an odd finish of tart cherry jolly rancher. HHH 1/2