Labor Day is the bittersweet holiday. Fading soon into memory go dreams both fulfilled and dashed for your favorite baseball team, your family vacation, your time with the grandkids or grandparents. Falling leaves, coming soon, signal the great harvest feasts, the coming of winter, and acknowledgement we are in the afternoon of yet another of our allotted annual treks around the sun.
Schools welcome kids back, each student a year deeper into their life adventure. Farmers cease praying for rain to nourish crops and start praying for dry so they can harvest. Labor Day is a time of transitions that seem to come sooner each passing year, an annual reminder there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.
Pour wine. Toast triumphs and lifetime memories you created, move past regrets. This is a weekend to enjoy the backyard barbecue, the swim party or day on the lake, the patio soiree where shorts can still be the de rigueur dress of the day.
There is transition in wine, too. Like flowers of the field, summer wines grace a season and are gone. Pull corks, twist Stelvins on your light whites and tasty rosés to make room for big reds of fall and winter. Wine’s harmony with the natural flow of nature is one of its exquisite joys and a fitting accompaniment to this celebration of transition.
Tasting notes:
• Diemersfontein Thokozani Shiraz-Mourvèdre-Viognier, Wellington 2016: Many people will happily slurp this South African crowd pleaser. $9-17 Link to my review
• A to Z Wineworks Oregon Pinot Gris 2016: Easy drinking, crowd pleasing, food friendly. $14-15 Link to my review
• Crowded House Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2016: Excellent, crisp acidity that makes Marlborough sauv blanc such a great food wine. $12-14 Link to my review
• Steele Pinot Blanc 2016: Fun to drink, with no sharp edges or challenges to your palate. $19-20 Link to my review
• Marchesi de Frescobaldi Castello di Pomino Chardonnay 2016: Tasty delight with focus on fruit, peach especially emerging after time in glass. $19-20 Link to my review
• Zocker Paragon Vineyard Grüner Veltliner Edna Valley 2015: Superb San Luis Obispo take on a classic, famously food friendly Austrian wine. $20 Link to my review
• Moët & Chandon Rosé Impérial Champagne: Classic, glamorous expression of Moët & Chandon quality. $55-65 Link to my review
Last round: Walking down the wine aisle after payday is one of the best reasons I know for working.