The curious story of the Shiraz which is slowly, erm, quickly taking over my life.

A good 2 and a half years ago, I cracked open a $9 bottle of Mission Hill Merlot, camped out on the couch watching some bad movie and ate handfuls of buttery popcorn. Now, this would have been considered a fine, relaxing evening except for the fact that I drank an entire bottle in about an hour. I couldn't help that it just tasted so darn good and went down so incredibly well. The room began spiraling out of control and for the next 7 hours, I laid on the cold bathroom floor vowing off ever drinking the red stuff again.

That particular merlot is something I still can't even smell to this day. In fact, I promised myself that I would never drink red wine again; I would just stick to the sugary goodness of Malibu and pineapple.

That was until just recently. I have turned into a bit of a wine-o. First it was the Oyster Bay Merlot and now, ladies and gentlemen I have found my thing… and it is sooo my thing.

The newest and greatest wine is a little Australian number by d'Arenberg Stump Jump. At only $18.99 a bottle, you can’t really go wrong. Although not so good with a spicy food, it's wicked awesome by itself. Super hard to find, I'd recommend buying more than 1 bottle at a time.

And you know, if you feel like cracking open a bottle, give me a ring - I'd be happy to share it with you.