Calling All Wannabe Winos

Author’s Note: This post includes a giveaway; details in the final paragraph.

Can you really enjoy something if you’re utterly ignorant about it?

I think you can. I like playoff hockey even though I don’t know what icing is. I often go to museums with only one Intro to Art History class in my arsenal. And I enjoy wine. I know for sure that I prefer red to white and don’t like ones that cause you to smack your tongue against your lips. That’s the extent of my oenology.

Each year when we head to St. Barts, I resolve to a. speak more French and b. learn more about wine. On this, our 7th trip, I finally tipped the scales in the language department. Sort of. I prattled on to everyone in my best textbook French. However when people responded, I had no clue what they were saying, offering a shrug and a lame apology:  Je suis désolé. Maybe next year I can add the other conversational component.

I was more successful with the wine.

Last year we saw this intriguing sign on the road outside of our villa. Who could resist? We were welcomed warmly by the owner, Cyrille Noyart. I confessed my ignorance, about the French language, wine, art, hockey. He dismissed my concerns and led me into La Cave to pick out some wine.

He suggested a rosé from Provence and a Mersault. I still can’t wrap my head around rosé (the French are crazy for it, drinking iced buckets of the stuff at lunch, on the beach, in the shower.) Maybe it was the white zin fad of the ’90’s that soured my palate. The Mersault, however, was delicious. So I returned before our flight home and purchased two more bottles and two pinot noirs.

I wrapped them carefully in towels then in dirty laundry. The return home was an anxious one because I expected to be summoned to security to explain broken glass. I looked for another solution for this year and discovered Rollups from BottleWise. A heavy duty resealable plastic pouch is enclosed in a nylon pad that rolls up – hence the name. I packed my purchases and gamely loaded them in my suitcase with new pale blue bath towels and filmy beach coverups. Hoisting my luggage off the carousel I was relieved that it wasn’t leaking and thrilled when I unpacked to discover the wine was fine.

To be honest, I don’t really know any more about wine, even after two years’ of handholding by Cyrille. Robert Parker certainly isn’t calling to ask for my impression of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau. But maybe I’ve learned a bit more about packing.

BottleWise has generously donated a Rollup as a giveaway. To enter, leave a comment on the blog about your area of ignorance, be it wine or whatever. One winner will be chosen at random on Tuesday, May 28th. US residents over 21 only. Good luck.