Special to Metroblogging DC from contributor Mik

I went to The Arlington Cinema and Draft House last Wednesday evening for their Wine Night at the Movies. This was my first visit to the Draft House, and although in an easy enough to find location, parking was a pain. Employees of the Draft House recommend parking behind the 7-11 to prevent being towed from the lot behind the Draft House or from the lot across the street. I of course illegally parked in the lot behind the Draft House and was not towed, but not being one to tempt the towing gods, wouldn’t recommend it.

I was excited by the opportunity to finally see Office Space on the big screen and really looked forward to the wine tasting. Amongst many the Sideways pun, the five wines sampled were:

The first wine of the evening was a Schmitt Söhne Relax Riesling. Apparently the Riesling of trailer park trash according to most reviews read. They dumbed down the label so as not to confuse the American market with often times hard to pronounce foreign names. Tastes very much like their Blue Riesling Auslese.

The second wine of the evening was an offering from Guy Buffet (no relation to Jimmy), and artist cum wine connoisseur and his 2002 Merlot. By far the best offering of the evening.

I’m not a big fan of Greg Norman and his stupid sharks and I’m even less of a fan of Chardonnay, so it goes without saying that the third offering of the evening from Greg Norman’s wine estates of Chardonnay was worse than drinking Earl Grey tea.

I do not aspire to be Miles from Sideways. I don’t care that the wine world was not prepared to have a 300% increase in Pinot Noir sales once Sideways was released. I wouldn’t feed Pinot Noir to my dog. Needless to say, the fourth offering of the evening a Pinot Noir from the Louis Jadot vineyards was worse than pig swill.

As a self-confessed wine snob, I am appalled to learn that the fifth offering of the evening, a L de Lyeth Cabernet, is a domestic wine. One of only a handful of domestic wines I have enjoyed since residing here, I found this wine to be full of velvety tannins and just to my liking. Definitely an A+ in my book.

Washington Wine Academy put on a great wine tasting check out the Draft House’s schedule and try to make it out for the next Wine at the Movies night.

Excuse me? Excuse me, senor? May I speak to you please? I asked for a mai tai, and they brought me a pina colada, and I said no salt, NO salt on the margarita, but it had salt on it, big grains of salt, floating in the glass…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs