Seen while getting some brandy for my apples…
Safeway, Sunnyvale, California
Lumix DMC-LX1
unprocessed raw
1/13 sec @ f/2.8, iso 200, 6.3mm (28mm)
“Like the starlet, a bottle of good Merlot is generally soft, sensuous, and uncomplicated—offering the ripe, jammy fullness of a fine Cabernet Sauvingnon without its complexity or tannic backbite. It is the wine equivalent of Monroe’s sultry, dulcet voice signing “Happy birthday, Mr. President.”—not intellectually engaging but a delight nonetheless.”
—Mark Oldman, “Oldman’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine”
Hmm, sounds a lot like my conference talks. Which, coincidentally, are about the only time I get to drink merlot.
[more random thoughts after the jump]
Michael tells me that because of the popularity of Sideways, merlot is passé:
“No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!”
—Miles Raymond, “Sideways”
Hmm, that last sentence sounds a lot like my conference talks too. 
If you are at a conference happy hour/del.icio.us birthday bash with bottled wine available, you are faced with a choice between a Chardonnay and a Merlot. From experience, at these times sobriety is overrated and you can’t get drunk on butter: “I’ll have a glass of the Merlot.”
(No I didn’t buy the bottle. This is for home—if I’m cooking steak, it’ll be a Zinf: “No Wimpy Wines?” Yeah, that sounds like it might work go with a steak.)
