Birthday Celebration!

As many of you undoubtedly know, I'm a computer geek who works in a law library. We are a close knit group; there are 13 full-time employees and four part time (for now).

Every month, we pick a day to have a birthday celebration for whomever's birthday happens to fall in that month. A lot of offices do a birthday cake. Not us. We're more of the wine and cheese group (most of the time, that's wine without the 'h'). How cool to work at a place that once a month, you get to taste a nice wine, enjoy cheese and fruit, and of course, something sweet because it is a birthday celebration.

This month, Deb, our Operations Manager, set out to one of our favorite food stores in Richmond, called The Fresh Market. It's a wonderful place. Whenever I'm in the mood for a good steak, this is where I go to get it. They also have wonderful fresh prepared foods and salads, desserts, and lovely cheeses. As you might have surmised, they also have a nice wine selection, too. I don't want to say this is a grocery store, because it's more specialized and there's not a huge selection. And it's pricey. But it is so nice to shop in there. Now I'm craving fresh, hot, French Banquette bread and nice dipping oil ... yummm ...

Where was I? Oh yes! The wine! So Deb picks up the goodies for the party at the Fresh Market; wonderful Bleu Cheese (from what I understand. I'm not a big 'cheese' person, and definitely not a smelly cheese person. But everyone raved about it, and I trust their judgment), some other white cheese that I did actually enjoy, some strawberries, and chocolate wonderful goodies, and a bottle of Goats do Roam wine.

She selected the Goats do Rom Red 2005. From what the website says, this red is a blend of Shiraz grapes. It's a South African wine, and the label is the single best seller of South-African wines.

The wine drinkers on hand are red wine lovers. We all enjoyed this wine very much. Those who enjoy the cheese said that the contrast in flavors was very nice. I enjoyed eating the strawberries with this red, as well as the chocolate (frankly, I would have probably enjoyed a potato chip with this wine this particular day ... it was a long one!). Deb reports the wine sells for $9.99 per bottle at the Fresh Market; you can probably find it a little less expensive (the Fresh Market is known for a lot of things, but low prices is not one of them -- but you get what you pay for sometimes).

This wine is definitely worth trying. If you like Shiraz, you'll enjoy this wine.