WINE
TEXT
ANIES PEILLET
WINE
CHICK
CASILLERO DEL DIABLO CHARDONNAY
A refreshing Chilean premium from
Casablanca and Limari valley in Chile,
aged in French Oak barrels. Fresh
and frutal. With notes of pineapple,
citrus and peaches, soft notes of
vanilla. A complex good balance and
fresh acidity, a mid-bodied wine with
a long, sweet finish. Great with fish,
seafood and oysters.
Wine makes us believe our full
potential is within our grasp and
that we have a grasp on the world
Thursday night is girls’ night out. It always starts in a very civilised,
politically correct way. My friends and I get together to catch up on each
other’s weeks and gossip over a bottle of wine. As grounded, mature women,
we discuss and rationalise our husbands’ annoying habits and our friend’s
latest break up with Prince Charming. At some point during the course of the
evening though something shifts, something magical happens.
Along the rocky road of self-actualisation, wine moves our woman’s brain
in mysterious ways. It makes us believe our full potential is within our grasp
and that we have a grasp on the world… Wine gives us clarity and creativity.
It gives us confidence and mischievousness.
So we redden our lips, Snow White style, to match our big mouths and fluff
our hair, a la Amy Winehouse, slip on our stilettos, wriggle into our outdated
1990s Christian Audigier bomber jackets, get into a cab and hit the town.
Last week the magic happened at Seven Restaurant & Bar in ABC, where we
started the evening with a 2010 Veramonte Pinot Noir with liquorice flavours.
It was under the influence of that red that I began to devise ways to beat
my husband’s transgressions out of his system once and for all. Missing the
laundry hamper again? I will move it to a different corner of the bathroom.
Taking bites of hamburger big enough to dislocate his jaw? I shall serve them
with a hard French baguette instead of soft buns. Reading on the toilet seat
for an hour again? I shall…. Improvise! I was clearly having a good evening… In
just a short while, I came up with ways to take a power nap at work unnoticed,
to hack my neighbours’ Wifi, and to BYOB our wine to the next bar. Thank you,
wine.
As the witching hour was closing in on us, hell, and a heel, broke loose. The
friend who had recently been dumped by Prince Charming had an epiphany:
the guy was a toad. And as blonde as she is, she is no bimbo. “Hell Hath
No Fury like a blonde scorned!” she yelled. Which, of course, led to massive
group mischievousness… Scribbling Prince Charming’s phone number all
over the bathroom walls of seedy Nairobi joints became our mission for the
night.
More friends joined in, so naturally we ordered a 2013 Argento Malbec.
Deep and dark with blackberry and black currant flavours, it was the perfect
potion for the witches that we had turned into. Our pseudo plans to remove
whatever was standing between us and perfect happiness became more
eccentric, the flaws in our coping strategies less and less obvious, the
outcomes more and more attainable.
What does wine do to a woman’s brain? It gives her the illusion, however
fleeting, that she rules the world! And that my friends, is a hell of a lot more
fun than sock knitting.
P.S. If you come across a toad’s phone