Living It Up On A Limited Wine List

There's the old Las Vegas joke about the guy at the bus depot bumming the fare back home.  Guy gives him the money for the ticket, but admonishes him "not to gamble it away."  Bum replies, "Oh, don't worry - I've got gambling money!"  In my world, it's, "Oh, I've got wine money."

We're enjoying a little holiday getaway in Las Vegas, with me alternating between a few hands of blackjack and watching my wife play slots.  If you have ever watched someone play slots, you know that it's the pattern from which boredom is made.

My wife says, "It's Vegas - why don't you live it up a little?"  I'm of Scots-Irish heritage: we love to drink, but we're too cheap to buy it.  I decided to turn loose of a few bucks and take her advice.  Live it up.

So we pop into the wine bar in the hallway between the J.W. Marriott and the Rampart Casino, a little place called Two Two One, for reasons that were never made clear.  Right away, I redefine my expectations.  The wine list has no "special occasion" wines.  On the bright side, "living it up" wasn't going to cost as much as I had thought it would.

The wine list is limited, but it offers some reliable names at prices that are pretty reasonable.  I chose the Hogue Riesling and the Ravenswood Zinfandel.

To underscore the feeling of a "vacation," I did not take notes and I did not take pictures, but take my word for it, both wines were just fine and added an extra dimension of pleasure to the evening.

They aren't exotic or worldly wines and they don't make me work too hard to figure them out, although that's something I enjoy quite a lot.  They offer a tasty escape and the chance to live it up without spending too much of my wine money - or my gambling money.


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