Bogle - Cabernet Sauvignon @@@@@ (5 corks)

Retails: $9.97 (Wal-Mart)

Whenever times are tough, my adoring fiance know just what to do to try and calm my nerves. He reaches for a bottle of Bogle. I know he delights in the way my face contorts into a squee of delight when I find it sitting, ever at the ready, on the kitchen counter. No hallmark cards here, kids, my fiance knows true romance. It's an exceptionally rich, velvety wine that fills the palate moving you into a space of true wine nirvana...or something.

Bogle is a brand that is considered "out of my price range" as it typically retails for over $10 (Walmart). It's not that I'm cheap, I just try to be a loyal consumer of good, inexpensive bottles rather than promoting, what I believe, is wine elitism---the belief that bottles should be expensive to be good and therefore making consumption on a regular basis by people of average incomes, like myself, near impossible. It's a big reason why many people never bother with wine in the first place.

So what brought on the occasion? We're a month away from the wedding and it seems the custody battle that we thought we won, is now gearing up to be ten times messier than originally anticipated. And sometimes, sometimes...you just need a solid glass of wine to fill you with perspective. I think wine, more so than any other beverage, opens the mind's arena for thoughtful contemplation. I'm forcing myself to exhibit some (ok, a LOT) of restraint over the periods' events, during what is supposed to be "our" engagement, "our" era of wedding planning and inevitably, "our" day. I do feel like I'm getting robbed. As much as I painstakingly try and fit into the other party's shoes, I just can't seem to discover the empathy to find these actions justified. Warranted. Above all, necessary.

Truth be told, peoples' shear lack of regard for others is both frustrating and disheartening --- as a human race, are we truly becoming that selfish? I sure hope not. For now, there's wine.