Today’s wine selection is brought to you by Ana. That’s right, I let my 4 year old daughter peruse the wine bottles and choose one for me based on gut feeling and, most likely, label appeal. It’s my assumption that she carries the wine choosing gene in her DNA, and I wanted to test that theory.

I set her down in the American wines section and watched her bypass all the fancy labels with names like “St. Michelle” and “Bon Terra”. She didn’t stop until she reached “SLEDGEHAMMER”. Am I surprised that my tough little girl picked something named SLEDGEHAMMER? Kinda, but only because she can’t read.

As we were paying, the cashier reached down and offered Ana a lollipop. She quickly snatched it out of his hand, and I, just as quickly, snatched it out of hers. I shoved it in my jacket, patted my pocket and said, “She only gets this if I like the wine she picked”. A reminder to her that wine is serious business.

Sledgehammer Zinfandel, North Coast California, 2010 – $9.99 (sale)

Sledgehammer’s website: This is not the elegant, delicate sipping wine that you’d find at your grandma’s bridge club. To the contrary, Sledgehammer Zinfandel is big, bold, and spicy. It pairs well with grilled meat and loud music.

Review by WineDiva: It has an abundance of raspberry and sweet baking spices, chocolate and espresso aromas lead to a secondary layer of fruit – blueberry and black cherry with vanilla. The palate reflects the nose – it supplies generous fruit, has a supple texture and fine cocoa tannins lingering on the finish.
Typical seductive Zinfandel characters…
You can never go wrong with a bottle of Zin at a barbecue. The potent sweet, ripe fruit and inherent spiciness is perfect with burgers, spicy sausage, chilidogs or sweet and tangy ribs.

Kim’s Notes: So here’s my problem…did you notice that the above notes stress the importance of eating meat with this wine? Well, 1) I prefer to drink my wine on an empty stomach, while laying in bed. It’s how I get the most bang for my buck AND 2) I don’t eat red meat.

My first impression, it had a nice medium body and there was some oak to it, but it was a little too tangy for my liking. But I kept thinking about the winemaker’s emphasis on grilled meats. Determined to give it a fair shake, I went to the refrigerator and grabbed a bag of Turkey Pepperoni. The rest of my tasting went like this: chew pepperoni, sip, chew pepperoni, sip, chew pepperoni, sip… This went on until both the bag and my glass were empty.

You guys, it was sooo much better! In fact, I couldn’t taste the tang at all…it actually had a sweetness about it. I guess there’s something to those “wine-pairing meals” after all. Who knew?

My overall impression: If you’re serving something spicy, BBQy, meaty, etc., then this is the wine for you. But if you’re just looking for something to compliment a light depression or a heap of mounting stress then you might want to try something more like this.

oh, I gave Ana the lollipop.

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