2008 Heimberger Vin D'Alsace Pinot Blanc and . . . Pizza

Alright, I have totally tossed in the towel regarding cooking nutritious, exciting meals this week. Suffice to say that equipment malfunctions at work crowded out any culinary whimsy today. As began to close down my laptop, though, I remembered that I'd read about a free wine tasting at Parker Wine Cellars (www.parkerwinecellars.com), and it just happened to be on my way home. "Aha," I thought to myself. "RESEARCH."

Parker Wine Cellars does a free tasting every Thursday from 5-8 p.m. This week they were featuring a 2008 Heimberger Pinot Blanc, a 2005 Chateau Des Roques Vacqueyras and a 2005 Chateau Haut Veyrac Saint-Emillion Grand Cru. All were excellent and fairly reasonably priced, beginning at $13.99 for the Pinot Blanc, which I bought. It was surprisingly full-bodied for a white wine, yet managed to be dry, not syrupy, and flavorful, with delicate hints of fruit dancing across my palate.

The two red wines were lovely but out of my price range, at least today (but I've got my eye on that 2005 Chateau Des Roques Vacqueyras, a marvelous blend of grenache, syrah, and one other grape whose name eludes me -- starts with an "m," I think). I do love French wines. There's something about the aroma blooming from an opened bottle that evokes the centuries of history ensconced in the mountains and valleys of the wine country.

Still intending to cook, if only Sloppy Joes, I went home with my treasure and was promptly whisked out of the house by husband and excited 16-year-old to look at a potential First Car. By the time we got done examining the car, it seemed prudent to just pick up a pizza on the way home.

A 2008 Heimberger Vin D'Alsace Pinot Blanc is probably not the best accompaniment to a thick crust hamburger pizza, but by the time I got around to eating, it tasted just fine. Actually, it went well with the rest of the genips, so if I was actually behaving like a wine connoisseur as befits someone with a wine blog, I'd no doubt serve the wine with a few artisan cheeses, fresh figs, sliced green apples, and grapes, instead of mozzarella (on the pizza) and genips.

From now on, I'm definitely going to stop by Parker Wine Cellars every Thursday night on the way home from work.