I'm So Hangry I Might Hit You And Have a Blintz

     A good friend of ours coined the term "hangry", referring to that point when you're so hungry it's just making you angry.  Well, when you work at a retail counter and/or bar for as many hours as we do each week, you start to see how the weather affects people en masse.  So that leads me to another definition of hangry -- when you're so HOT you're about ready to punch a kitten and crawl in your crisper for a nap.  And that long, long lead-up gets us to wine and heat.

     We get this question all the time -- what do I do with my wine if I have no A/C at my house?  This is pretty important because here in Eagle Rock, it's supposed to hit 104 degrees tomorrow and heat and oxygen are the mortal enemies of any wine.  First of all, don't throw the wine in your trunk where there is definitely no A/C and run errands for two hours.  At your home or apartment, by far the best thing to have is a wine fridge.  With wine becoming more and more popular over the last few years, there are many options at many price levels from counter-top units around $70 to ridiculous monstrosities for the price of a nice house. 

     If you have no A/C at home and no wine fridge, the common practice is to pick the coolest place in your house to store wine which can be the floor of your closet.  It's probably the coolest place in the house with no direct sunlight.  But when the weather is in triple digits for more than a couple days, this won't cut it.  So just put the wine in your normal refrigerator.  Unless you need long-term storage for a vintage, fragile wine, a normal fridge is just fine.  And yes, you'll read articles about the vibrations of the compressor damaging the wine but really, from that $8 sauv blanc to the $50 '06 California pinot, you have nothing to worry about unless you're going to stick it in there for years and years on end.  Just remember to let both whites and reds warm up to a proper temperature before drinking.  Or, if you're soooooo hot you're dying of thirst and need wine immediately (or Thangry), just tip that cold bottle up.  No one's going to tattle.

     Have other inventive creations to cool your wine?  Leave a comment or vote on our homepage poll.

     Have you heard of these lost, under-appreciated superheroes, "supertasters"? About 25% of the U.S. population are considered supertasters, meaning that they have at least twice the amount of tastebuds that we boring/regular/average tasters have. Now, if two of you live in a house and your significant other can't describe what he or she tasting as well as you can, that doesn't mean you're a supertaster. That might just mean that your spouse just isn't the sharpest tack in the tackle box.

     But would it be better to be a supertaster? Would you sit there at dinner and just get lost in the millions of layers each bite of gourmet food had, washing over you for hours? Many think the experience of being a supertaster is more likely just the opposite. The subtle spiciness of a dish is for you, too spicy to keep in your mouth. The light acidity of a finessed Cabernet Franc is to you, just pure acidity. A little oak on a nice Spanish tempranillo could be like chugging a vile of vanilla.

     So you supertasters, choose wisely. You average tasters, be happy you can enjoy twice the range of foods and wines that supertastes sometimes cannot. Are you a supertaster? Do you have a friend who insists that they can taste a wine from 4 feet away? Comment below.