Hitting The Beach

On this occasion, "hitting the beach" meant the neighbours' backyard. Nature Boy and Mr. Principle wanted to have a little beach party but didn't want to have to deal with sand or having to find their way home after beating the heat and all the dancing with plenty of sangria and beer.

Their invite proclaimed a "Bikini Dance Party." Luckily, for at least Boo's and my sake, Hawaiian shirts and shorts were also acceptable under the dress code. Somehow, the thought of either one of us in a "mankini" just wasn't the most pleasant of thoughts - endless pitchers of sangria or not.

879. N.V. Toscano Rosso 4L Box (Bottled in BC)

Looking back on the party, I don't think I actually had a glass of the Toscano Rosso solo. Now, I know your immediate reaction would be to channel the "wine snob" in all of us and ask "Why would you want to?" But that's not the point of this little Odyssey. We welcome ALL wines - with pedigree and without.

And, believe, me there was nothing wrong with the Toscano Rosso and the Sangria. There were at least a couple of refills of those 4L boxes needed. If they have such a party again, the boys are going to have to look into the 16L box that is apparently available for sale. I couldn't easily find out anything about the wine (producer, grape varietal or source) but I did see that it's part of the Vincor portfolio and it falls under the "bottled in BC" - or "boxed in BC" in this case - category which means that the fruit can be sourced from anywhere and is often excess production from California, Australia and Chile.

Regardless of the wine's pedigree, Sangria always seems to be the great equalizer when it comes to utilizing entry level wines. Sangria has to be one of my favourite summer drinks and I don't find it being served nearly enough! It's always interesting to hear what various hosts have used in the way of a recipe. I'll never say "no" to a good idea for the Sangria jug.

The boys were missing their regular - and favourite - deejay but there were plenty of deejay wannabees and there was no lack of dance tunes. Mr. Principle must have one heckuva an account with iTunes because all requests were met for the dancefloor. With the volume steadily increasing and the guests spilling out into the lane, we were getting plenty of surprised looks as folks drove by.

Particularly as a few mankinis actually did start to appear.

Must have been the punch in the Sangria.