Date Night Addendum: Wine!

I received some lovely advice from Kelly, a close friend and reader. Kelly has experience working in wine distribution, and had the following advice about getting a good deal on cooking wine.

"Keep an eye out, or ask a retailer, if they have any discount wines. Sometimes you can get them in 375mL, which is perfect for cooking. Retailers will have vintages that aren't selling well, so they want to move them out to create space in their store. OR... they know that particular vintage is going to start to turn, so they want to get something for it. I've seen bottles of wine, only fit for cooking, selling for $2.50-$3.00. I'm not sure what the prices would be in Boston, but at least you can get something from the US at a reasonable price.

We used to have deals for "cooking wines" at the distributorship for wines that sat in the truck a little too long in transport. It's worth asking your local retailer if their distributor has any deals on wines that might have turned and are now better suited for cooking. Your retailer will probably not think to ask that question to a distributor. Something to think about if you plan on doing more cooking with wine."

And, while we're on the topic of wine, please think about the carbon footprint of your wine. Not surprisingly, most of wine's carbon footprint comes from the transportation, not the fertilizer to grow the grapes, etc. This is a fascinating map telling (depending on where you live) whether it is less of a carbon footprint to have wine shipped by plane from Bordeaux, France, or to be trucked from Napa Valley, California. So think about where your wine comes from, and enjoy!