Drinks Are On Me

We’re so hung up on good wine that we’ve neglected to give props to the bad ones. So consider this an ode to the ever-popular Thunderbird.

What does it smell like? If you’ve ever spilled gas on your hands, you know exactly what this 17.5% alcohol fortified wine smells like! The taste? Apples and piss. The effect? As they say, as you drink on, the bird soars higher while you sink lower.

The history of Thunderbird is as interesting as the drunken effects the one experiences from drinking it. In the 1950’s, after Prohibition ended, Ernest Gallo and his brother Julio wanted to corner the young wine market. Ernest wanted the company to become “the Campbell Soup company of the wine industry” so he started selling Thunderbird in the ghettos around the country. Originally a blend of lemonade and Port, at one time this was the best-selling wine in the country! Their radio adds featured a song that went:

What’s the word?
Thunderbird.
How’s it sold?
Good and cold.
What’s the jive?
Bird’s alive.
What’s the price?
Thirty twice.

I suffered so you didn’t have to. You’re welcome.

Drinks are on me.

This is the eighth of a many-part series aimed at learning more about the fermented grapes we all enjoy in our wine glasses.

Background and history: Aurore is a white hybrid wine grape variety produced by Albert Seibel circa 1860. It tends not to be used as a table grape because it is unsuitable for shipping and is generally used for bulk wine production for blending with Labrusca wines. It is also used to a lesser extent to make fruity and sparkling wines though considered to be mediocre in quality.

Viticulture: This grape’s fruit ripening is early in the season between late August and early September. Although the vine is resistant of many mildew diseases, is productive and vigorous; the fruit suffers susceptibility from bunch rot and bird attack.

So what does it taste like? I don’t know. Do you?

Also called: Aurora, Feri Szoeloe, Financ Szoeloe, Redei, Seibel 5279.

Buy: Aurore.

Drinks are on me!

Recently I had the pleasure of attending my monthly wine-tasting party with friends. We sipped bubbly all night long with some tasty treats - including Lobster Thermidor!

During the festivities, a new 40-something female friend saw a bottle of Rosé Champagne and asked for “a glass of the blush.” That got me thinking: Rosé is super popular these days, but does anyone call it “blush” anymore?

I know the term “blush” is generally restricted to relatively sweet pink wine sold in North America as well as Australian and Italian Primitivo. Otherwise the term is almost never used in Europe.

Is it all just marketing? What do you call pink wines - “rose” or “blush?”

Drinks are on me!