Finishing up some wine and a little college football

Well, I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend.  Brandy and I got off to a promising start on Friday night, going to Edinburgh Castle to see a couple of Phil's friends play.  It had the makings of an entertaining evening with Phil, Gini and friends (all young, very young).  However, after a couple of beers and some fish and chips, our true colors showed (that would be the wan gray of old age), and we bailed before the shows even got started.

We're such homebodies.  Sad.    :)

Anyway, back to the last couple of wines I was going to point out.

2003 Hanzell Pinot Noir Sonoma Valley - As I started saying in the last wine post, there's a lot of history here, but the wine stands on its own merits.  Pretty Bing cherry and plum notes, a touch of rose petal and mushroom, all backed by a firm hand of toasty oak and food-friendly acidity.  A little much mocha for my taste, but well-balanced and a very nice Pinot.

2005 Wairau River Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough - A lovely example of New Zealand SB in general and Marlborough SB in particular.  All the bright citrus, gooseberry and grass notes you would expect from a Kiwi SB, wrapped up in a gorgeous, bracing acidity.  My only (very minor) complaint would be a slight vegetal note that's somewhat akin to pickled asparagus.  Very good wine, though.

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Now you're thinking to yourself, wine and college football?

Well, yes.  Granted, they're not the most logical of blog pairings, but then again, this blog is all about the things floating around in my head.

Of course, Brandy and I had to watch Michigan and Vanderbilt, since we're both Wolverine fans.  I won't bore you with any commentary on the game other than my assertion that Michigan needs to pull Chad Henne's head out of Lloyd Carr's ass to have any chance of winning the Big Ten.  They might have won 27-7, but the game was ugly and should have finished more like 72-7.

Strangely enough, my favorite thing about the broadcast was listening to Chris Spielman.  Truly entertaining.  Most likely, the great majority of his comments are dead serious, and in that case, he scores very highly on the Unintentional Comedy Meter.  Next Saturday, I highly recommend that you find the game he's working and watch.  Bwah ha ha ha ha...

Before you think I'm poking fun at a slightly impaired ex-football player just because he's an OSU grad, I'll have you know that I'm not.  I'm very aware of his great community works, his spinal injuries and his wife's battle with breast cancer.  He's shown that he's a remarkable human being, and it's great that he is still working in the game he obviously loves.

To quote from collegefootballnews.com, "Spielman is goofy, but hes a fun listen and deserves a higher profile gig; like the third man in the booth with Nessler and Griese. Hed be PERFECT for that. Im sort of shocked he isnt a mid-level NFL announcer yet."

Gotta love the goofy ex-players who do color commentary.  It makes Saturday just that much more fun.