Recently I started a new job. Not that I didn't love my old job. In my prior life I managed a large bookstore, which is super-terrific, except that the retail book business, in the bricks-and-mortar sense, isn't going too well. Add on to that my company's exposure in CDs, DVDs, and some rather poorly conceived Gifts and Stationery investments and, well... it just isn't working right now. Even if the company survives, it's become such a desperate environment that, for my own mental well-being, I had to get out. Or go mad.Fortunately, a coffee company based in Seattle just happened to have a need for me. I'm hesitant to identify the company here, except to say that it's name almost-but-not-quite rhymes with "horcrux," which, given it's Voldemortian reach, is perhaps a little alarming. It's a nice change of pace and a good company that treats me well. So hopefully that possible connection to Voldemort is strictly my imagination.
The most surreal part of my new career is the frequent coffee tastings. It frankly just never occurred to me that coffee needed "tastings." Coffee, to me, is a functional drink. Something you slug down to wake up in the morning. But now I'm identifying hints of cocoa and overtones of cinnamon and nutmeg and I have to try to speak lucidly about it in front of my new bosses and customers. It is fun and an interesting experience, but coffee still tastes, largely, the same to me. I have, however, learned that Christmas Blend tastes damn good with Gingerbread. And I've learned to totally hate Robusto beans.
I've also learned what a moron I am about wine, or rather was in the early days of this blog. My palate, perhaps, has developed past its infancy, but it's still just a toddler. I'll take a sip of coffee and stare into space for ten minutes blankly trying to identify a flavor from deep in my memory banks, and that's not much different from how I am with wine. The only real difference is that I've had a bit more experience with wine, so I know that if it's tastes like cough drops, it's probably Australian, and that many red wines go well with meat. So that prior experience gives me a reservoir from which to draw my comparisons. Whereas with coffee, a lot of it still tends to taste like dirt (which, I've learned, you can pass off by saying it tastes "earthy").
Anyway, the last couple of months have been pretty stressful. In addition to that whole getting-the-wife-knocked-up thing, I left my long-time employer and have embarked upon my new career. It's a lot of fun. And it makes me grateful for Corbett Canyon Merlot.
Corbett Canyon Merlot, as the label states, is "medium-bodied with deep blackberry aromas and a soft, satisfying finish." It's also $10.99 for a keg at Harris Teeter... er... or rather a box, which makes it great for a momentarily unemployed oenophile waiting for his new paychecks to start up (and trying to make COBRA payments). I don't know if I would describe the blackberry aromas as "deep" so much as "nuclear," and the finish isn't "soft" so much as "non-existent." But that's exactly what I want from a functional wine (and let's face it, any wine that comes in a box and barely costs $10 is functional, not for showing off). It leaves you satisfied and it tastes good, pairing well with, I dunno, meat? Something like that.
So there you go. 7 out of 10. Drink it by the box. In the morning, try the Caffe Verona to chase away the hangover, with a chocolate donut.
Harris Teeter, $10.99
