Purple Moon

The other night in Trader Joe's, Todd and I came across something very strange in the wine section: A $4 Shiraz made by the Purple Moon winery. Never heard of Purple Moon? Me either. The strange part is that the winery is located in Manteca, CA. A winery in Manteca? Of course, we bought it, and I expected it to have an aroma of cow or something. But it didn't, at least not to my unrefined tongue.

The best part is that I get to snicker to myself when I think about how people here might buy that wine, thinking that because it's from California, it must be from the wine country or at least from some idyllic and beautiful place. Hah! Manteca means lard in Spanish, people! You're drinking lard wine! Okay, and so am I, but I know what I'm getting into. And I'm from the lard, so I'm immune to being seduced by it. Is it really possible that the place where I grew up, the place where one of the only entertainment activities was to go to Wal-Mart, is now producing wine? Strange indeed.

Maybe the winery is located in the Wal-Mart. Now that would be a trip.