It's Thursday: Wine Tasting at Parker Wine Cellars!

Regretfully, I missed last week's tasting because of work, but I was determined to go this week. It's a nice tradition, and I like the fact that it's on Thursday, neither smack in the middle of the week or bumping up against the weekend. And on this 100+ degree day in Dallas, after fighting traffic at a crawl all the way up North Central Expressway, it felt good to step into a cool, well ordered wine emporium, greet Manager Jeff Stuart, and sample three wines from California, which, unlike Texas, is having a beautifully cool summer.

This week the featured wines were from Bernardus: a 2008 Chardonnay, a 2007 Pinot Noir, and their classic 2004 Marinus. The chardonnay and pinot noir are from Monterey County, and the Marinus from grapes grown in upper Carmel Valley.

I think I'm starting to like chardonnay, or at least some of the chardonnays I've tried lately. This one was extremely good, with a near-perfect balance of crisp and rounded mellow flavors. The pinot noir was light and delicate, but the Marinus won me over. (Naturally, it was the most expensive -- I have a knack for that.) The 2004 Marinus (to quote the back of the bottle, because they say it better than I can), a "California grown Bordeaux-style wine, is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec grapes from our vineyards in the upper Carmel Valley." Since it was so delicious, budget rules were broken and the wine was purchased.

In addition to the wine tasting, Jeff does a weekly WttA ("Wine to talk About") and this week it's "the 2004 Lan Rioja Reserva, a blended Tempranillo which The Wine Spectator says: (is) a 'Smart Buys' designation and #52 on the 'Top 100 of 2008.' A silky texture carries expressive flavors of black plum, violet, licorice and smoke in this focused, balanced red. Has good intensity yet remains vibrant and accessible. Drink now through 2012. Score: 90." Yeah, that one is now in my wine rack too.

After that refreshing stop I went home with the firm intention of cooking the chicken, and discovered to my chagrin that the old refrigerator in the garage, while still capable of keeping meat and ice cream frozen, totally sucks in the art of simple refrigeration. Granted, the garage is probably the same temperature as the great outdoors -- over 100 degrees -- so the refrigerator has a challenge, but I did expect better things from it, and certainly not what I smelled from that package of chicken.

Alright, I'm resourceful, I can cope, so I tossed the chicken and rummaged around the freezer for an alternative, coming up with a few lamb chops and a salmon filet. Thinking "grill" and "hickory wood chips," I happily started defrosting and fired up the grill. I seasoned the chops and salmon, went outside intending to put the wood chips on to start smoking, and noticed that the temperature on the grill . . . was dropping. Out of propane.

Okay, that was worthy of a few choice words in a couple of languages. I went inside, changed the oven from Bake to Broil, stuck the chops and salmon in there, finished the macaroni and cheese, made salad, and still had dinner ready to eat within 45 minutes of the Stinky Chicken Discovery. We watched "Kick-Ass," and I thought smugly that Superheroes have no powers compared to what I can dish out when I'm trying to cook.