February 24, 2021

OK – in this edition of Wine Down Wednesday, let’s talk Zinfandel. Specifically, let’s chat for a moment about the 2018 Carnivor Zinfandel. I poured a glass of this yesterday evening…..and let the games begin.

I scored this vino from a local shop, and got what I thought was a decent price for it – the equivalent of roughly 2.5 gallons of gas out here in Orange County, California. In hindsight – I would have been better off either a) trying to drive my Jeep with this in my tank, or b) chugging the 2.5 gallons of 87 octane from the local 7 – 11 gas pump.

At the outset, it didn’t seem too bad. Hey, the wine looked red in the bottle, so we must be ok, right? When I popped the cork, it slid out easy…as if to say “get me the hell out of here, because what’s inside this bottle is making me agitated.” Did I heed the cork’s warning? I say ney ney. I proceeded to pour this into a glass.

Did the glass deserve what I just did to it? Probably not. But if it could talk, I’m sure it would have cursed my ancestors as mindless, tasteless troglodytes as the liquid filled it. But moving on….

The first scent I picked up when I rose the glass to my rather untrained nose was…well….indescribable. It took me a few long moments to put into words what I was picking up from the glass. But finally, it came to me…..

Dismay. Utter dismay.

On the nose, this wine made me sad. It made me question my life choices up to this very moment. Had I wronged someone in a prior life? Have I angered the Gods that sit high atop Mount Fermentedgrapes? Then it came to me: this was a triple dog dare issued by Dionysus himself. In for a penny, in for a pound…so I tasted it.

The next seven minutes are a bit hazy. You know that little green fairy that one may see whilst imbibing copious amounts of Absinth in a dive bar within the seedy part of Amsterdam? Well I remember him deciding to show up, and for some reason he was playing the theme song to the movie Deliverance on a banjo. He was joined by the ghost of Howard Cosell who, for some odd, reason, decided to begin doing the play by play….

“Unbelievable…he actually took a sip and DOWN GOES ZINFANDEL! DOWN GOES ZINFANDEL! Oh – the wine hit his tongue and my oh my he winces in pain! How he’s still standing is a mystery to this reporter…..”

Bottom line on this one: this wine mad me angry at the world. End of sermon.

So next weekend, I’m going to complete the David Goggins “4 x 4 x 48 Challenge”. There ya go.

So what is the 4 x 4 x 48 Challenge? I’m not really glad you asked, but I’ll tell you anyway.

David Goggins is a former Navy SEAL – and some consider to be the BADDEST MAN ON THE PLANET. I can’t write up a summary of his bio, because there is waaaaay to much to cover. His story will, however, blow your mind. So google him and check it out. Here’s a link to his website…. https://davidgoggins.com/ .

….and here’s link to his challenge, in case you are also interesting in joining in the “fun”…. https://www.gogginschallenge.com/

In summary: starting at 8pm PST next Friday evening (March 5th), I’ll put in 15 miles on my Peloton every 4 hours through Sunday, March 7th, at 8pm. Originally, I was planning to run 4 miles every 4 hours – but my knee sent me a message that, if I did, I’d be MESSED UP for the foreseeable future. So figuring that the usual equivalent to running 4 miles is biking 12, I’ll go for 15 – which should take somewhere between 45-48 minutes each session.

The goal with this challenge is to raise money for whatever charity the competitor chooses…so I’m going with the IRONMAN Foundation. If you are interested in donating to the foundation’s cause, just click here! …and THANK YOU in advance!!!

THE IRONMAN FOUNDATION

I’m thinking about going live on social media for these sessions – but I have to figure out how to actually do that first…..so I’ll provide any details in the coming days.

Here’s a fantastic interview that Joe Rogan did of Goggins….it will leave you saying “…holy crap that dude it hardcore!!!!”