For the love of Wine (Away)

In the world of passions, mentors can come in handy. The best mentors are the ones who may not even be aware of their influence. I have had many sources of inspiration during my wine journeys, everyone from the man at Château Montcontour who let us in for a tasting (off-season) & talked wine with 3 Americans for hours, to the staff at Coit Liquors who were always willing to give out samples of already opened bottles on my way home from school, to the staff members of tasting rooms all over California. But this individual won my heart in a most wine-sical way...

"And what is a Wiii-mooo?"
"A Wimo is wine tasting in a limo. My friend organizes it. Should be a lot of fun."
"Wine? Limo? Yeah of course I'll be your date! Umm.. platonic, right?"

Jess is-- how do I say this unpretentiously?-- smarter than you. He's smarter than me. He is smart about everything worth being smart about. And it was under the most unusual of circumstances that we crossed paths (and that is one story that, being un-wine-related, will not be published here).

Our friendship grew over shared loves for fun, dancing and wouldn't you know it, wine. Jess is not one to be outdone, whether he tries or not. So it did not strike me as odd when he insisted on dressing up for this Wimo trip. How on earth, after agonizing for hours, did I end up choosing a white dress for wine tasting is beyond me, but I did. And I looked damn good.

I think it was somewhere between Domaine Chandone and Biale that The Incident happened. Imagine 30-something people on a limo-bus stocked with a full bar. Most people were drunk before we even left San Francisco. So it was inevitable that red wine would eventually make contact with my ill-chosen white dress. The culprit was my dear friend Vinay, combined with a too-sharp turn or maybe a speed bump. The victim was my white dress; the poor thing looked like it was fashionably bleeding. Before the thoughts, "Oh f-- my dress! I am gonna walk around with a wine stain all day long!" could process, the never-outdone Jess produced a magic potion from his bag...

Wine Away, how had I never heard of you?!?! A couple of sprays later, and my dress was once again immaculate. And I was head over heels in love.

Not too long ago, at a winery (I believe Martinelli?), I found a 3 pack of travel-size Wine Away spritzers. I keep one in my purse at all times, and lemme tell ya: I have un-ruined more garments, removed more carpet stains, and warranted more "Oh my God THANK YOU!!!!" hugs than I ever imagined possible. All for $10? What a bargain!

Wine lovers everywhere, experienced or not, or even for you clutzy folks (because I can attest that this stuff removes fruit juice, ketchup, and more!): you NEED Wine Away. Get it now. Most wine shops, BevMo, and specialty food stores carry it. If not, order it right here, right now!

And as you may have guessed, the Wine Away wasn't the only one to steal my heart that day.