Amazing Grace, Rod Stewart and Bubbly

Usually Latte will pose with the bottle of wine, but this
time she was more interested in the wine than posing

On my quest to find good red wine (and by good I mean somewhere between Kool-Aid sweet and Merlot), I picked up a bottle called Bella Bolle’, Sweet Red.

Bella Bolle’ is an Italian bubbly. I didn’t know it was a bubbly when I bought it, but maybe the design on the bottle should have given it away. Unfortunately, I’m just not that astute.

It looks like Bella Bolle’ only makes Sweet Red and Moscato d’Asti.

Less is more sometimes.

On Sunday night, I poured a glass of the Sweet Red and sat down to watch the movie “Due Date.” Synopsis from IMDB: “High-strung father-to-be Peter Highman is forced to hitch a ride with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay on a road trip in order to make it to his child’s birth on time.”

I took a sip of wine as the movie started and was reminded of Wild Cherry Pepsi, which makes sense since it is a bubbly and has a combination of ripe cherries and raspberries flavoring. It’s not over-bubbly though, like a champagne. Instead it’s more like a hybrid.

Toward the end of Due Date, Peter and Ethan pull up to the Grand Canyon where Ethan wants to spread his father’s ashes. These two men could not be more different. Peter is a by-the-book kind of guy who doesn’t stray to the fringes of life. Ethan lives in the fringes.

Peter can’t stand Ethan and the way he lives, but he has softened toward Ethan by this point of the movie. Ethan is a loner who is looking for solace after his father died, and while he knows Peter isn’t fond of him, he is hoping Peter will just listen to him to help him get past a difficult time in his life.

They get out of their vehicle at the Grand Canyon and Ethan approaches the edge. “Amazing Grace” plays softly in the background while Ethan eulogizes his father (you can watch the scene here).

Wait a minute – is that Rod Stewart singing “Amazing Grace”? Wow, that is unexpected, but it works.

Ethan tosses his father’s ashes into the canyon as the song winds to a close. And it hits me – this scene is like the wine I’m drinking. I found beauty in the unexpected in both cases.

If you are looking for a unique sweet red wine that isn’t over the top sweet, Bella Bolle’ is a nice choice. And If you are looking for a dramedy that is so silly it is serious, Due Date is a nice choice.

St. James Winery Velvet Red

Apologies to my cat, Latte, who normally
proudly poses with the bottles of wine. I
was out of town when I took this photo.

How good can a bottle of wine be if you purchased it in a gas station out of a cooler that also contains energy drinks, bottled water and pop?

I was about to find out.

When I visited Missouri a couple of weeks ago, I picked up a bottle of St. James Winery Velvet Red, which advertises itself as sweet red wine, in Kingdom City. St. James is a local winery and I always enjoy trying something local whenever possible, but I was skeptical for a couple of reasons.

First, I bought it in the aforementioned gas station – the same place hot dogs have probably been rolling around on a metal rack for eight hours. Second, I don’t really trust wines with twist tops. I’ve never seen a bottle of expensive wine with a twist top. Of course, I haven’t really seen all that many bottles of wine since I’m new to the lifestyle, but something about a twist top just screams beginner. Maybe I just don’t like to be reminded that I’m a wine novice.

Velvet Red is advertised in the following way, “Tastes and smells like ripe, just picked Concord grapes. Velvet Red is fruity, sweet and velvety smooth.”

I have no earthly idea what a just picked Concord grape looks, tastes, or smells like, so that didn’t help me. I do agree that it is fruity and sweet. The velvety smooth part would probably be true if my palate wasn't changing. I used to prefer the sweetest red win possible. But now I prefer a semi-sweet or just a simple red table wine.

Given my changing taste, Velvet Red won’t make my favorites list. But that doesn’t mean it is bad – especially at $7.99 per bottle. I would buy it again if I were traveling through Missouri and I didn’t want to go out of my way to find something else.

Food with a Message

When a bottle of wine contains a story about the heritage of the family who started the vineyard, it adds to the wine drinking experience. It makes me feel like I understand the wine I’m drinking and therefore I appreciate it more.

I’m beginning to notice more food products with stories attached. Rachel’s potato chips packaging contains a story about a grandma who passed her recipe on to her granddaughter who is presumably still using that recipe today.

Yesterday, I came across a bag of Brim’s popcorn. It didn’t have a story attached, but it had the text of Isaiah 26:3, which promises perfect peace to those whose mind is stayed on God.

The journalist in me had to know more. Do the other products of this Memphis-based company contain Bible verses?

I found this blog post that shows a bag of Brim’s pork rinds with Psalm 100:5 printed on it. So apparently they do. And then I went to the company’s website and found an Everlasting Life page that lays out the plan of salvation.

The Bible verses and the plan of salvation page may irritate some, but they are part of Brim’s story. In fact, the company’s mission statement ends with, “May our actions and words honor God.” So the packaging is consistent with who the company is and what it believes.

I’m interested in your take on food with a story or message. Are you seeing what I’m seeing? Do you like knowing a company’s story or hearing a message they want to convey to their customers? Or is this marketing overload?

Yellow Tail Sweet Red Roo Wine

My cat Latte, posing with a bottle of
Yellow Tail Sweet Red Roo

I poured a glass of Yellow Tail Sweet Red Roo wine to enjoy with an episode of Friday Night Lights (FNL) from Season 3 called, “How the Other Half Lives,” which seemed fitting, given that I was drinking a bottle of wine that only cost $5.99.

I’m working my way through FNL for the second time and I’m realizing, as I always do when I see a movie or television series for the second time, that I missed so much the first time.

I don’t remember Landry and Tyra breaking up before the season started, and I certainly don’t remember either character not giving a reason, but it feels totally unsatisfying. As viewers, we’ve been through too much with them without being given an explanation for their break up.

I don’t remember Lyla completely abandoning her newfound Christian faith from Season 2 without any explanation. She simply slips back into her old ways without any apparent thought or struggle. That’s disconcerting and it leaves viewers wondering who she is and what she believes.

In fairness to the show, Season 2 was supposed to be longer, but it was cut short. So, at the beginning of Season 3, the writers were left to fill in the gaps. Unfortunately, they didn’t do it well enough to be convincing.

As a viewer who is willing to get lost in the fictional world of Dillon, Texas, I am being jarred out of that world, wondering why the writers didn’t create enough convincing backstory before moving on.

As I sipped my glass of Yellow Tail Sweet Red Roo wine, it tasted a lot like the unsatisfying gaps between Seasons 2 and 3 of FNL. Something just seemed off.

Yellow Tail had good intentions, trying to capture a piece of the growing market that favors red wine. According to Nielsen data, “the sweet wine category has seen a 246 percent increase in dollar value sales in 2011 versus the previous year and IRI Syndicated reported more than half a million cases of sweet red wine were sold in the U.S. in 2011.”

The problem is the back of the bottle doesn’t tell the entire story. Yellow Tail packaging says the wine’s flavors are “sweet red berries, vanilla & chocolate.” With the first sip, I knew it was a blended wine. My mouth was confused though. The back of the bottle did not mention any blends. But the wine was both sweet and dry.

That sent me to Google where I learned that it is a blend of “Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and other red varietals.” I’m not a wine expert. I don’t even play one on the Internet. But why in the world would someone who wants a sweet red wine want a blend that includes dry wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz?

Maybe this wine is for real wine drinkers and that’s why I don’t like it. But if it is supposed to be sweet, then it needs to be sweet.

Liberty Creek Merlot

Latte continues to change poses with the bottles of
wine I photograph, as if she were a kitty supermodel

I gave Liberty Creek merlot a shot recently. I’m learning I can drink merlot from almost any vineyard. Liberty Creek was no exception.

I tasted more cherry in this particular wine than in other merlots I’ve tried. Since I love cherry, this made for a tasty bottle of wine. It is smooth, not overpowering and it is easy to drink. For $6.98, that’s hard to beat.

The only real complaint I have is – and this really isn’t a complaint as much as it is an observation – the bottle is larger than most other bottles of wine and it went bad before I could finish it over the course of three nights. I’m not advocating a smaller bottle though.

Having someone to share it with would nice. Or maybe I just need to research ways to keep wine fresh for longer periods of time.

I’m headed to St. Louis this morning to visit family. If I can get out of here early enough, I’m going to stop at a winery called Stone Hill that isn’t far from where my sister lives and see if I can find a new wine to try. I also finally found a bottle of Liberty Creek sweet red wine that I’ll write about soon.

Double Dog Dare Sweet Red Wine

In what has become a ritual whenever I photograph a
bottle of wine, Latte insists on being in the picture, no
matter how tired she is – probably even more so in this
case since the wine is called Double Dog Dare instead
of Double Cat Dare. She just wanted equal time.

How could a $2.99 bottle of wine taste good? I had my doubts. But I loved the name – Double Dog Dare – and the fact that it was sweet red wine, so I gave it a shot.

Apparently, the wine is so low budget that Double Dog Dare doesn’t even have a website (that I can find). I did find several comments about Double Dog Dare Merlot on a website and they all agreed with the conclusion I came to about the sweet red blend – it is better than most $6-$10 bottle of wines.

Imagine letting your kids make a batch of cherry Kool-Aid and when you weren’t looking they added one more scoop of sugar than you told them to. That’s how Double Dog Dare Sweet Red wine tastes and I say that in the most favorable way possible, which means this wine has slipped past Sutter Home Sweet Red wine at the top of my list of favorite red wines.

I’d still really like to try Liberty Creek Sweet Red wine, as one of you suggested, but I can’t find it here locally. I did find a store that carries Liberty Creek Merlot and I’ll write about that next week after I’ve tried it. As always, wine suggestions are always appreciated in the comment section.

2007 Columbia Crest Two Vines Vineyard 10 Red Wine

Shot this photo late at night and Latte was tired,
but she insisted on being in the photo.

“What are you looking for?” said a man who drifted away from a wine tasting group.

“Something sweet,” I said. I was in the Merlot section so I knew I wouldn’t find what I was looking for there – Liberty Creek Sweet Red wine, but I’d already asked the clerk and he said they didn’t carry it so I was looking for something else.

“I started just like you, but eventually my palette adjusted,” he said. “You should try one called Red, I think you’d like it.”

We found it and I read the back of the bottle. It didn’t sound sweet at all.

“Or give this one a chance,” he said, pointing at the 2007 Columbia Crest Two Vines Vineyard 10 Red Wine. “We had that at our wedding at it went down easy.”

I picked up the bottle and read: “The unique style of this medium bodied and soft-textured red wine is inspired by some of the best varietals grown in one of Columbia Crest’s oldest sites –Vineyard 10. This delicious red wine is a blend predominantly of Washington state Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Sangiovese highlighted by aromas of strawberry and spice with ripe plum and blackberry flavors. A perfect complement to steak and pasta dishes.”

I had no idea how Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Sangiovese tasted – especially as a blend – but the promised “soft-texture” coupled with the wine tasting guy’s suggestion that it goes down easy was enough for me to give it a try. I’m finding that talking about wine and sharing experiences with other wine drinkers is half the fun.

The suggested wine turned out to be everything it was promised. It isn’t really sweet, but it isn’t so dry that I had to make a face to get it down. And the various berry flavors didn’t knock me over, which is a major plus for me. If wine tasting really does go in stages – starting with the sweetest and working your way to the driest – then this is a step in the right direction. Although, I can’t see myself moving any drier than this.

I would love to hear about your latest wine adventures. Have any good stories or suggestions?

Black Swan Merlot, South Eastern Australia (2007)

I wrote a post last month singing the praises of Red Guitar Wine (2006), Old Vine Rosé and it is still my favorite wine, but I just learned that rosé wine isn’t red wine. Rosé is its own class of wine – somewhere between red and white, but closer to white, which means the tannin level is lower. Tannin increases good cholesterol and helps to fight against heart disease. Tannin is highest in red wine – that’s why I’m after a good red wine. I need it to be as sweet as possible.

I found one in Sutter Home SWEET RED wine (2008) and I wrote about that here. I’ve been adding other suggestions to my list as you offer them. I tried Black Swan Merlot, South Eastern Australia (2007) over the weekend and, while it was a bit stronger than I prefer, I liked the mixed berry and mellow cherry flavor. The Black Swan website says this is a medium-bodied wine – which would have been nice for them to include on the back of the bottle because I’ve already determined that full-bodied and medium-bodied wines are stronger than I prefer.

My cat Latte, posing with a bottle of Black Swan Merlot

Back in October, I tried Turning Leaf Merlot (2007), but I wanted to see if all Merlot is created equal. I couldn’t tell a huge difference between Turning Leaf and Black Swan. If you forced me to, I might invent something and say Black Swan had a touch of cherry in it and since I like cherry I prefer it to Turning Leaf, but please don’t give me a taste test. I would fail.

Next on my list is Liberty Creek Sweet Red, which was suggested by one of you. Anything else I should add to my list?

Fairbanks California Port Wine

I have a bookshelf in my living room that is six feet high. The top of it is perfect for taking photos of items to place on eBay because it’s easy to keep the camera level with the items. Lately I’ve been using the top of the bookshelf to also take pictures of the bottles of wine I’ve been trying and writing about here. My cat, Latte, likes this spot as well. Several times a day, she hops up there to stretch out.

The two worlds collided the other night when I tried to photograph a bottle of Fairbanks California Port wine for this post. Here is the result:

Pretty cute, huh?

Wish I could say the bottle of wine was as much fun.

I read somewhere that port wine is sweet, and as I’ve mentioned in other posts about the various red wines I’ve been trying, sweet is what I’m after. Fairbanks California Port doesn’t have any fancy marketing blurbs on the back of the bottle about how it’ll enhance your meal or outing or life. That might have been my first clue that this was a “real” wine, but I didn’t catch that until I tried a glass of it.

The label says it is superbly rich and full-bodied. I now know that those adjectives describe a taste that is much too strong for my palate. My first taste made me flinch. After the overpowering “full-bodied” taste overwhelmed me, I tasted the sweetness, but it was too late by then. And, if it is possible, it was too sweet.

Two ways of describing the taste came to mind and they both fall short, but I’ll give them to you anyway. For the initial full-bodied shock factor, think about how the first sip of black Starbucks coffee tastes (yuck! pass the cream and pink stuff please), followed quickly by the taste of Kool-Aid with twice as much sugar as any human has ever consumed in one glass. Combined, the two tastes are enough to rattle your eyeballs.

At least I learned something. When I went to the store on Sunday afternoon to pick up a few groceries I notice a few bottles of wine that said they are medium-bodied. So, that must mean light-bodied wines exist, although I didn’t see any. I did find a website that talks about the three types and it compares full-bodied wine to cream, medium-bodied wine to regular milk (I’m not sure what that is), and light-bodied wine to 1% or 2% milk. At the very least, I learned not to get full-bodied or medium-bodied wine.

How about you? Have you been experimenting with different types of wine? Or do you have a favorite you’d like to tell me about? So far, I’ve jotted down the following suggestions from the comments section: Liberty Creek Sweet Red, Kenwood Pinoir Noir and Benzinger Pinoir Noir.

Red Guitar Wine (2006), Old Vine Rosé

On Sunday one of my pastors told us it was a good thing to be snowed in every once in a while. Snow was already falling and we had the promise of quite a bit more. I totally understood what he meant.

After church, I stopped at the grocery store. As I finished up my shopping, I meandered through the wine section looking for something new to try. I found a wine called Red Guitar – Old Vine Rosé from 2006. I’ve been wanting to try a red table wine for a while, and I liked the name because I used to play guitar and music has always meant something to me, so it seemed like a perfect fit.

I flipped the bottle over and read this:

Centuries ago, the Spanish added a sixth string to a little recognized instrument, bringing to life what we now know as the guitar. For countless generations since, music, food and wine have been the fabric of the Spaniard’s joyful and vivacious existence. Put simply, la buena vida (the good life).

Our prized Garnacha vines grow deep in the gravel soils of Navarra. Rosé is a classic wine from this ancient kingdom and our lively version is a fresh mouthful of raspberries with a crisp refreshing finish.

Red Guitar Rosé; a refreshing celebration of the Spanish lifestyle.

As the snow continued to accumulate on Monday evening, I popped in my Holiday Fire DVD, poured a glass of Red Guitar and plopped down in my recliner to read The Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. Latte, my cat, made the scene complete by curling up in my lap where I rubbed her belly, causing her to purr.

The fire crackled and I’m pretty sure I felt it warming my feet. The wine went down easily. No bitter aftertaste and it wasn’t overbearingly sweet. Maybe that’s how raspberries taste? I have no idea because I’ve never tried one. But this wine quickly became my new favorite.

Ironically, the novel I was reading while enjoying my Red Guitar contained a scene in which two friends shared a bottle of wine, making the evening even better. Like one my pastors said, it is a good thing to be snowed inside every once in a while. But the scene ended when my roommate walked in the front door.

"Want a glass of wine?" I asked.

"No. I'm not highfalutin like you, with the fake fireplace and $7.50 bottle of wine," he joked.

"What are you trying to say?"

"It speaks for itself."

He’s probably right.

Sutter Home SWEET RED Wine (2008)

Maybe I've been overthinking this red wine thing – thinking I needed to figure out which grape produced the sweetest red wine. If you've missed my quest, you can read more about it here and here.

Looking like the novice I am, I spent maybe 20 minutes looking at nearly every bottle of wine in the grocery store the other day. I stumbled across one called "SWEET RED" by Sutter Home. That sounded perfect.

I flipped the bottle over and read this, "Sutter Home Family Vineyards offers this unique SWEET RED blend. We combine traditional California red varietals with a touch of sweet white wine to create a softer style red win that is voluptuously smooth, easy to drink and can be enjoyed chilled."

That is not false advertisement. It's the best red wine I've ever tasted. It isn't quite as good (sweet) as white zinfandel, but I can't imagine finding another red wine that comes this close. Granted, it's cheating a little since they added a touch of white wine to the mix, but if this is cheating, then so is drinking Coke Zero or Pepsi One.

And it passes one of the wine pansy tests – it comes with a cork, not a screw top lid. Although I have to admit, I have still not mastered the uncorking process.

A few years ago, I bought a friend a bottle of wine and he came over to enjoy it while we watched a movie. I was so unaccustomed to real wine that I wasn't prepared to open it. The corkscrew I had was from the 1970s and it probably belonged on the end of a pocketknife or a keychain more than anything.

So, we had to go to the grocery store to get a real corkscrew – the kind with the handle grips on the side that actually pulls the cork out of the bottle. I'm getting better at using it now, but I could still use some practice. Now that I have found a red wine I enjoy, I should be a pro at popping corkscrews soon.

Turning Leaf Merlot (2007)

Turning Leaf Merlot was the next red wine on my experimental list. I don't know much about Merlot, other than it is supposed to be sweeter than some red wines. And I remember that Miles from the movie Sideways hated Merlot. I got the impression he thought it was for pansy wine drinkers – for people who like strawberry, white zinfandel. I qualify as a wine pansy if that's the case.

I uncorked my Turning Leaf bottle of Merlot a few nights ago. I kept it refrigerated, ignoring the advice I see online regarding the way red wine should be served, until it was time to pour a glass. I found it easier to drink than I expected. I just wish I knew enough about wine to explain the nuances of tastes I experienced, but I don't. So, I look for reviews online as a starting point.

On Snooth.com, I found a review of the wine that said, in part, "Nice, easy-drinking. Maybe rather non-descript. Slight fruity aroma, then with a soft tannic, oaky taste and quick finish." I wouldn't have picked all of that up no matter how hard I tried, but, like I said, it gave me a starting point. It wasn't bitter, and that's probably the most important thing for my taste buds. It wasn't overpowering, that's a plus in my book. I could detect a little fruitiness, but I have no idea what type of fruit. It was drinkable and that's a good thing.

I drank two glasses and saved the rest for the next night. I pulled the bottle out of the refrigerator so it could assume room temperature the next night thinking maybe red wine would be better than white wine at room temperature. It wasn't. In fact, it was awful. So, I learned two things with this bottle of wine. I can tolerate Merlot. Red wine must be chilled.

Barefoot Zinfandel

I'm intrigued by people who know what type of wine they like and why. I'm equally intrigued by wine culture -- the vineyards, the books, the blogs, the people who gather together and drink it, the whole thing. I think it's because it represents a slower pace of life.

As I drove from St. Louis to Kansas City yesterday on I-70, I nearly stopped at a roadside vineyard called Stone Hill, but time was tight because I had a business lunch to attend in Jefferson City, so I had to pass it. But one of these days, I'm going to stop at a place like that and just put myself in the hands of someone who knows and understands wine.

My doctor recently suggested again that drinking a glass or two of red wine once in a while would be good for me. Thing is, red wine doesn't taste good to me. I favor the sweetest tasting white wine possible -- wines like Arbor Mist and Boone's Farm. I've been doing a little investigating about the differences between white and red wines and I found this tidbit from WineIntro.com:

"As a bit of background, the tannic, leathery flavor of red wine comes from the red grape skins. All grape 'insides' are white in color. So a red wine that only uses the skins briefly during winemaking -- like a white zinfandel -- is going to generally be less tannic and more sweet. It will also be light in color, since the color comes from the grape skins. A wine that sits on the skins for a long time during winemaking will end up darker in color, more tannic -- and more healthy. That's because many of the health compounds in a wine come from its skin."

So, more tannic means more healthy. That's good to know. Now I just need to figure out the taste thing. A while back I bought a bottle of Barefoot Zinfandel. I poured a glass and sat back to watch a television show. I couldn't finish it. It was anti-sweet, sour, even. The one thing it had going for it was, the alcohol taste wasn't overwhelming.

I stuck a cork in the bottle and thought I'd probably dump it out, but I stuck it in the refrigerator instead. I just pulled it back out gave it another taste. It wasn't as bad as I remembered. Then I discovered I've had the opened (corked) bottle of wine in my refrigerator for over a year. According to most wine websites I just looked at, they say opened bottles of wine are only good for up to three days.

So, the taste of this particular wine bottle no longer represents how it tasted when I opened it initially. That's too bad because I found the old, flat wine more tolerable. Oh well. I picked up two new bottles of red wine at the grocery store this afternoon, so the quest to find a good, sweet bottle of red wine will continue. If you have any suggestions, please offer away.

Wine Tasting

I saw an article in my local newspaper recently about a wine-tasting gala that was going to be held in my hometown and I really wanted to go. I had something else going that weekend and the $80.00 price tag was a little hefty in my opinion. I don't really know anything about wine except that I like it as sweet as possible. I can never see myself becoming a wine connoisseur. But the experience of wine tasting sounds like a blast.

Maybe I'm thinking too much about the adventure that Miles and Jack had in the movie Sideways as they hit one winery after another on the beautiful central coast of California. Have you ever seen the movie? I'm guessing that it helped to peak the interest of more than one person regarding wine. Once in a while, I'm also intrigued by several wine blogs that I visit: Vinography, Winery Times, Girl Meets Grape, and Fermentation. I don't really understand what I'm reading, but I read anyway.

People who are into wine seem to understand the importance of stepping off the hamster wheel of life once in a while. They pour a glass of wine and sip it while watching wildlife, or listening to good music, or sitting next to someone they love and in so doing they find snippets of peace--moments when demands aren't being made and chaos isn't reining. And who among us couldn't use more moments like those?

Independent Bookstores

I've never really been an independent bookstore kind of guy. No real reason, other than because they are usually in out of the way places and tend to have odd hours. But, in theory, I've wanted to support them for some time. My friends and I went to a new independent bookstore on Friday night and we had a great time. The first thing I saw when I walked in was a shelf full of books from local authors. Usually chain stores relegate the "local authors" shelf to the back of the store or to some out of the way place that customers rarely frequent. So, two steps into the store, this business had my attention.

The "suggested reads" shelf was close to the local authors shelf and I enjoyed perusing it -- even bought a book from it called "Blogging Heroes." They had a shelf or two of classic literature and a nice reading area for kids -- built up to look like a palace. And toward the back of the first floor, they have a wine-bar, where they also serve coffee and offer several meal selections. I don't know much about wine, expect that I like it white and sweet. The barista/bartender suggested a certain white wine (no idea what it was called) after I told her about my taste. I bought a glass of it and headed for a table.

The table had a black tablecloth, which is a little more upscale than I'm used to. And the seats were cushy. My friend's and I sat around and discussed books and pretended to fit in while I swirled my wine around in my glass and pretended to know what I was doing. I remember several scenes from the movie Sideways in which Miles, a wine connoisseur, swirls his wine to "let it breathe." I don't know why it needs to breathe, but hey, if it needs to breathe, I'm going to let it.

We finished our drinks, and checked out the second floor. They have meeting rooms that are available to the public for free. The first room we walked by was full of women wearing red hats who were drinking tea. I found out that they are called the Red Hat Society. Here's how they describe themselves on their website:

The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor and elan. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life, and since we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together. Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond of affection, forged by common life experiences and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next.

From there, we examined more bookshelves on the second level. We checked out the fireplace and the plush chairs they had available for customers. And we couldn't pass up the opportunity to examine the bottles of win they had for sale upstairs either. We had no idea what we were looking at, other than prices (the most expensive was $350 for the bottle -- we steered clear of those), but it was fun anyway.

So, I'm making plans to drop off my books one day in the next week to be displayed on the local author's shelf by the front door, and I'm really thinking that the place would be nice to put into our rounds of bookstores that my friends and I visit most weekends. Now I'm just hoping that it stays open.