Ahoy!
Welcome and thank you for reading my innaugural blog post. My name is Robert Sharker and I am a 52 year-old Great White shark who just loves wine! Now i realize it sounds strange- a shark who appreciates fine wine? You're right for thinking it's strange because I am a true anomaly . Wine is regrettably not a big part of shark culture, which is unfortunate considering that we have arguably the world's best palates! For instance, did you realize that we can smell 1 single drop of blood in 1,000,000 drops of water? So of course I can detect the subtle interplay of wild raspberries, sage, tobacco, and vanilla in a nice red burgundy! That's mere child's play, and i'm tired of your human wine critics receiving all the credit (...and payoffs$) for something that I am SOOOOO much more qualified to do!!
But I digress...
Most sharks aren't the least bit interested in wine. For the most part, my peers just robotically cruise the world's oceans, mindlessly and joylessly chowing down on smaller fish, seals, and the occasional surfer. They have no idea how much their enjoyment could be enhanced by integrating simple but good wines with their cuisine.
I used to be just like them...
I grew up in the waters off the coast of the Northeastern United States. My family was fairly typical for the time; we always ate well, but the food was pretty standard. Cod, Bluefish, and a careless swimmer here and there. On Thanksgiving, we'd migrate to my grandparents' house off the coast of Maine for a nice meal of blubber-rich sea lions followed by an afternoon of football, but that was about as exotic as it got. And there was no such thing as wine in our household. We had saltwater with every meal and my old man always told me we were lucky to even have that!
That all changed for me the summer after my senior year of high school when my buddy Chummers and I went hitchhiking and backpacking across the waters of Europe. What a different world! The flavors were so new and exotic! And everybody drank wine with every meal! Chummers and I were especially psyched about that part because there wasn't even a legal drinking age! It was around this time that i became aware of the concept of terroir; that a scuba diver from northern Italy tasted completely different from a scuba diver from southern Italy. That a red wine from Bordeaux was completely different from a red wine from Provence- and for many, many reasons. This was fascinating to me. Even more fascinating was that these wines made my food taste better! Even MORE fascinating was that a local wine tended to pair better with the local cuisine. Was it mere coincidence that a Portuguese fisherman tasted better when consumed with a nice Touriga Nacional? I thought not.
But that was a long time ago..
I'm a middle-aged shark now, and over the years i have developed an immense appreciation for wine from all over the world. In the coming blog posts, I will uitilize my God-given palate to bring you the most accurate wine reviews in order to help you make informed decisions as a fellow wine consumer. Undoubtedly, there will also be hijinks, mischief, rants, raves, and tangents as we explore this world of wine, culture, and bloodshed together. I'm looking forward to it!
Sincerely Yours,
Robert Sharker.
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