Brilliant! (An Ode to the Wine Vending Machine)

I am part of a Navy wives' club here in San Diego, which is a great resource for meeting new people, getting involved in a new city, and making connections for when you inevitably move away from the city you're in. One of the activities I got involved in was the book club, as I LOVE to read and read pretty much anythign I can get my hands on, regardless of if I plan to discuss it with someone or not (though I frequently share books with my mom and sister, so we're like a built-in book club, I suppose.)

Anyways, I hosted our first book club for the wives' group this past month and chose a wine bar downtown that had a very attractive installation...a wine vending machine.

(sorry the photo is so dark)

That's right, I said a wine vending machine. I actually chose this bar because I knew they had one of these glorious inventions and thought it would make a great venue for us to visit and toy for us to play with. As you probably can imagine (or have seen) the wine vending machine is exactly what it looks like - a machine that dispenses various varieties of wine, for a variety of prices. They have a machine for reds and one for whites, which keeps the whites cold (yum.) You preload a card with however much you want to spend, insert it into the machine and pick your poison. Your card is deducted the amount for the tasting and you are poured a delicious taste of wine.

It's a great idea for those who like a variety of wines when you go out, but don't want to shell out the cash (or sobriety) to have a full glass of each kind. It's also good even for those of us who are less adventurous (like me!) to try a small taste of something (unfortunately, for me, I tried a few reds and discovered I'm pretty much destined to drink only white for the rest of my life. But I'm ok with that.)

We had a great time trying the different kinds of wine and I definitely plan on going back and maybe giving a red another shot...maybe.

Cheers!

Maureen