Swirling Loyalties

Well this is fine kettle of fish, as my grandmother would say: sitting here wolfing down a big Killer Burger, washing it down with the '03 Abeja's Beekeeper's Blend, all the while cheering the S.F. Giants on to a World Series victory.  The Giants!?   For christ's sake, what has become of me?  I grew up a Dodger fan and the Giants, like the Yankees, are the ever-hated enemy!

But somehow, and I'll avoid the long diatribe on the yankeeization of the Dodgers by their upper management, the Giants - described as a rag-tag bunch of misfits - have developed a charm that is seducing. A starting pitcher with long hair, called the "Freak", assorted players that had been tossed to the curb by other teams, a relief pitcher who dies his beard black to look menacing (while sporting a baby pony-tail) amalgamating into an awesome team....a true "team" that is rare in professional sports.  And I like them. They don't seem stuffy; one player described the dug-out as Halloween every day.  It's a sport and they seem to be genuinely having a great time "playing", which is the goal, no?  At any rate, SF is a great town and this team seems to be a good face for it: an amalgamation of parts that just wants to have fun.  Let your Freak flag fly!

And so the wine, the Beekeepers Blend, an amalgamation of cab sauvignon, merlot and cab franc, a soft, round joyous unpretentious quaff that fit the food and the fete perfectly.  Abeja's tendency to be "stuffy and pretentious" aside, this their 'commoners' blend is a solid expression of what underlies all the over oaked, over extracted, high alcohol wines that often roll out of the WWW world.  This wine, then, is the Giants of Walla Walla: fun and easy going.  Not the pedigree of Cayuse or Leonetti or even the Abeja high end wines - the Yankees of the wally wine world.  Nope. Just wine for the masses to enjoy and not take so seriously.  Sorry Mollie-tude: your prissy, haughty mien is no match for the bee's work. Perhaps you should drink more and die your beard black and find your inner freak. It's liberating, as this former Giant hater can attest.