A Relative Surprise

Straight from the afternoon posting at Bunker Cay, it was off to a bit of a command performance at the folks. They had been hosting a couple of the relatives who were visiting from Jolly Old. No, not Liz and Phil, but Pete and Anne. However, their stay in the colonies was quickly coming to an end, and Mom and Dad wanted to throw a little going away party for them - particularly since Pete and Anne would be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary shortly after their return to England.

Considering the fact that it wasn't an all out family reunion, they gathered up quite an assortment of the relatives - including some of the cousins that I hadn't seen in many a year. So there was lots of catching up and re-telling of old stories. It's no surprise to anyone that knows her that my mother can pull out all sorts of tales when she has an attentive audience. Well, OK she generally still has lots of stories even if the audience isn't that attentive. But they were tonight.

Now Mom is not known as a full-fledged wine geek. So, awhile back, I'd asked her if she wanted any help in picking out some wine for the party. I'd hinted that it probably wasn't appropriate to serve Dad's home-made plonk - ooops, er, wine - to the guests given the occasion. She said that none was needed because she'd already bought the wine. It was going to be interesting to see just what she'd chosen.

I guess it just goes to show the masterful marketing job a certain Australian winemaking company has accomplished.

162. 2007 [yellow tail] Shiraz (South-East Australia)

The marketing story that is [yellow tail] is an entire entry on its own. In fact, it's provided entire chapters in marketing books, being talked of in the same tones of awe as IKEA and Starbucks. But my mother wouldn't know any of that. So, it's interesting that she picked this Shiraz - the cornerstone of the [yellow tail] portfolio as her chosen wine. I'll have to ask later how she came to the decision that she did. (My guess right now is that it was on sale at Costco during one of their visits to Washington state.)

For the party she was hosting, [yellow tail] is a pretty darned good choice. Good flavour, easy sipping, that touch of residual sugar that new wine drinkers don't even recognize. The wine just doesn't offend.

And you know what? I had no qualms in the least at toasting Pete and Anne's 50th with it. It would be interesting to see 50 years into the future to see if [yellow tail]'s marriage of good wine and good pricing is still successful and as ubiquitous as it is now, but I think young Skeletor (once again hamming it up in a dress instead of her crazy hoodie) will be the only one of us that will actually be around to find out.

Happy Anniversary Pete and Anne.