Ann Beattie

“Tasting Notes For A Teetotalling President”

1. The mouthfeel of the Stormy Daniels interview “60 Minutes”

is complex, gradually revealing itself in a mellow bitterness

that still has so much more to tell. With hints of self knowledge

paired with humor, graced by silvery-pink Underside of the

Ash Tree lipstick, the 2018 Stormy holds delicious allure,

offering undertones of raspberries, as its mystery resolves

on the tongue with crumbling sweetness and a sparkle of

brilliance not often seen in so humble a grape.

2. The terroir was propitious for this year’s Banished Secretary 2018,

whose taste lies primarily beneath the surface, its low notes shivering

with incautious power, owing to the convergence of double allegations

whose force pairs them in an assertive way. Though some find it

too strong, others will take pleasure in the sour-grape aftertaste

of this forceful wine, whose bruised-eye glossiness would best be paired

with artisanal young-barnyard-animal cheese.

3. An impressive , bold taste can be savored as the enigmatic qualities

inherent in our 2018 Special Prosecutor[limited quantities] cause

smacking of the lips and eye rolls of delight comparable to what one feels

when viewing the stars on a winter evening in Moscow. A sturdy wine whose

flavors unfold quickly, like collapsed tents, Special P astonishes with a

minerality rarely perceived outside the graveyard.

4. The taste of Melania 2018 holds its own among other fortified wines.

The major notes stride forward after a slight delay, as the wine descends

down the palate. One is sure to be captivated by this meticulously enhanced

wine, a true sparkling diamond. Chef has created a special recipe to pair

with this vintage, available on the vineyard’s Web site [search “Your hide

is cooked”], with locally sourced “smashed” potatoes underlying

deliciously larded meat.

5. Mar-a-lago 2018 contains amusingly golf-ball-size notes of sour

cherries, intermingled with predominant notes of private-plane

fuselage, grass clippings, and Florida lemons. It is best drunk early,

like a Beaujolais Noveau, and you are advised to act quickly, as some

experts believe that this wine may soon go out of production.

6. As growers know, the shifting exigencies of our environment

sometimes make it necessary to widen our categories of appreciation.

It has been said, with regard to the Vin Americain 2018, that even

the archangels might be counted on to blow their trumpets [no pun

intended] in surprise. With an approach as brash as a wildfire, this

wine’s taste of charred almond intermix with flavors of gravel

and redwood and top notes of burned squirrel, providing the perfect

accompaniment to barbecued ribs slathered with our special sauce

[ketchup “blood” with smoked woodland mushrooms]. This

exquisite sauce is equally good with rabbit, quail, elephant and donkey.”

Author Ann Beattie.

Excerpted from The New Yorker, April 23, 2018.

Publisher, Conde Nast, a division of Advance magazine Publishers,

1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007.

Who is Ann Beattie, pray tell?, her stiletto use of analogy is superb!