Tragic Sandwich

The winery where grapes die. And go to Hell.

In a dumpster-diving expedition (which began with the sighting of a set of industrial shelves), my husband came across many, many unopened bottles of various wines and liquors. We suspect that the dumpster contents were the result of cleaning out someone’s garage, as the receptacle was owned by a company for hire.

At any rate, we cracked open a bottle of “Chateau Fleur” New York pink champagne (and when was the last time anyone heard of that? It sounds so Auntie Mame, and by that I mean something that would have been served at Upson Downs). This may be the nastiest stuff I’ve ever tasted, even accounting for the fact that it had lost its fizz. Here are some other labels from this choice collection:

Martinique Sparkling Sangria
Bertran Pinot Chardonnay (José López Bertrán y Cía, Tarragona, Product of Spain)
Bertran Pink Chablis (ditto)

There’s also a Haut Sauternes, a couple of vermouths that have gone gritty due to the dissolution of part of the bottle cap, and a few bottles of claret. The claret makes me think I might have stumbled into an English novel about the early 1800s, and I have a sneaking suspicion that tasting it will make me hate English novels about the early 1800s.