Monday, March 27, 2017

Macho Man Monastrell

When we went to Geir Henning and Carl Johann's house for lunch recently (Sunday's post), we brought a bottle of wine for our hosts. Although I took a geography course in my junior year called Wine and World, I know next to nothing about wine (having taken the course solely for the wine tastings).

We had told the guys during our lunch at Meson Salvador that we tend to choose wines by their labels (or, inanely, by how expensive they are). I pointed out a label I especially liked in one of the wine cabinets at Meson Salvador. They liked it, too. So, before our lunch two days later, we picked up a bottle for them. It's called Macho Man Monastrell.


The other day, San Geraldo and I were back at Meson Salvador for lunch. When we arrived, we were told they had a gift for us.

A FULL-BODIED MACHO MAN.
TOO BAD IT'S NOT FILLED WITH WINE.
I'VE GOT TO BE A MUCHO MUCHO MACHO MACHO MAN!

For those of you who care about more than labels (like my friend Lidia, whose motto is "Fruit Forward!"), Macho Man Monastrell is a Spanish wine from the region of Jumilla  about 50 miles inland from the eastern Mediterranean port of Alicante (about 500km from where we live).
"Here, the vineyards are planted on light, sandy soils over a limestone bedrock, at altitudes up to about 800 metres above sea level; Monastrell is the main grape of the region. Hand-harvested grapes from very old vines provide the raw material for this big, boisterous, fruit-packed wine; four months in oak barrels provides a touch of softness and spice. The 2013 vintage was named in the top 100 wines in the Wines from Spain Awards 2015."
The bottle we gave the guys is filled with the 2013 vintage. What the team at Meson Salvador gave us is filled with air (or nothing).


Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey! You had to know this was coming...

34 comments:

  1. YAYZ VILLAGE PEOPLE! and you are muy caliente just the way you are!

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  2. Air wine???? How DARE they!

    And I never knew you posed for wine labels!

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    Replies
    1. Bob:
      I'm in great demand. Whenever they're looking for a mucho macho man, they call me.

      Delete
  3. How funny! Next we'll be seeing you on TV commercials....

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  4. Great photo Mitchell! Good lord, I haven't heard Macho Man in years.
    Have a good day!

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    Replies
    1. Cat Lover:
      Oh, I hear it all the time. People are inspired to sing the song whenever I pass by.

      Delete
  5. Absolutely SEAMLESS photoshopping, lol!

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    Replies
    1. Debra:
      I had so much fun! I started to transfer more tattoos, but they looked tacky (imagine that). In the meantime, I had to replace the labels skin color around the tattoo with my own. I stopped short of changing the stripes on my tank top from black to red!

      Delete
  6. MMM.....branching out eh, Mitch!?

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    Replies
    1. Jim:
      Just being true to myself. A Macho Man is who I am (groan).

      Delete
  7. That pic of you is one for Fearsome's 'Beard of the Day'.

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    Replies
    1. Raybeard:
      Oh, to be one Fearsome Beard's Beard of the Day! That would be hiliarious and make my year.

      Delete
  8. They have a similar wine here called Warrior Queen with Anne Maries picture on it. One glass will knock you on your ass. I often pick up wine by the labels and how creative they are....most very good. I tend to like very dry wines.

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    Replies
    1. mistress maddie:
      I'll have some Warrior Queen, please! I also tended to like dry wines. Then I had vino dulce (Spanish sweet sherry) and was shocked to find I loved it (only Pedro Jimenez, initially, and now Zumbral... the best).

      Delete
  9. Ha! I'd recognize you instantly from the picture on that label.

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    1. Stephen:
      It's uncanny, isn't it?!? Shows what a truly great illustrator (like you) can do.

      Delete
  10. @maddie - beeyotch! (said in a most affectionate voice)

    @raybeard - fer sure!

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    Replies
    1. anne marie:
      Your new name, Warrior Queen! I'd really love to see your label.
      From Raybeard's mouth to Fearsome Beard's ears!

      Delete
  11. Look at the size of that thing!

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    Replies
    1. Wilma:
      Aw, shucks, ma'am. Oh, sorry! Yes, the bottle is big, too.

      Delete
  12. I laughed at Debra's comment. I agree.
    And I too choose wines by their label. But I wouldn't have chosen that one. It looks more like a potentially tacky/cheap wine to me - no offense to the macho man holding up the bottle.

    The song won't play. I'm not sure why. It's likely a good thing. If it played, it'd play through my head and I'd end my comment with something silly like: Where's the YMCA wine, young man?

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    Replies
    1. Robyn:
      Ew, YMCA wine! I don't even want to think about that!

      Delete
  13. Labels? Ha! We don't need no stinkin' labels. I just got 20 liters of red (10 of gamay and 10 of a gamay/cabernet blend) directly from the barrel at a local winery. Of course, I had to put in into bottles myself. The shape of the bottle tells me which wine is which. The winery will offer you labels if you want them. Of course, they don't have macho muscle men on them, so what's the point?

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    Replies
    1. Walt the Fourth:
      You tell the wine by the shape of the bottle? So I suppose Macho Man would have a very, very thick neck.

      Delete
    2. I put the gamay into the standard Touraine bottle (similar to a Burgundy bottle but with a fleur-de-lys feature molded into the glass) and the blend went into Bordeaux bottles.

      Delete
  14. So they designed a wine bottle label for you. Amazing!

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    Replies
    1. Laurent:
      I was so honored and of course had to buy a bottle.

      Delete
  15. Ear worm song is drilling through my brain ~ I needs me some of that there vino MMM !
    Please and thank you!!
    Smiles!

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    Replies
    1. Ron:
      So sorry. It stuck in my head the entire day, too. I suppose I'll have to get myself a bottle of that wine and see if it was worth our ear worm!

      Delete
  16. oh fantastic!! I wonder how I can get me a bottle.

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