This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on July 30, 2006 1:54 PM.
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A fellow erstwhile Jerseyite of my age caught my discussion of the pink "stuff" a while back, and he reminded me the other day that I didn't tell the full story of Mateus, the Portuguese rosé that we used to guzzle down at the Jersey Shore when we were too young to know better.
I left out two details. First of all, the Mateus bottle made an excellent candle holder, particularly after it had been used for several different candles and had all sorts of drippings down its side. The Italian restaurants used to do the same thing with those cheesy chianti bottles that came with a basket around them, but for a teenybopper crash pad, only Mateus would do. (O.k., maybe Lancers, which was the equivalent of Mateus, but just those two.)
The other angle that I missed on the Mateus story was the fact that it often accompanied some lovely hashish. Jersey was full of hash in the early to mid-seventies, and where there was Mateus, you had a good chance of finding some "blond." Ah, the nights we'd spend partaking and listening to record albums. We took turns -- everybody would get to play an album side, and explain why they picked that one. Somewhere toward midnight, the Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell would fall away, and Let it Bleed or Sticky Fingers would get cranked up.
Some Mateus could get spilled.
Comments (1)
We were talking about trying to track down a bottle of Mateus to see how it's held up over the years, but our bud the wine expert says it's not available in the Portland market. Anybody seen it anywhere near here?
Jack, I know you won't answer, but I remember many nights with brother Gary doing a few bottles of Mateus. But perish the thought, we never thought about hash!!!
Okay, I've held back my Portugese wine story but as long as we're sharing: I graduated a semester early from a boarding school in Exeter, New Hampshire, and me and another American kid from Arabia went into Boston, and hired someone to buy us wine. We ordered Mateus since that was probably the only kind we could think of right then. I also see an obaque bottle in my memory but I believe it came in the bottle you have pictured. Anyway we ended up at a Boston Bruins hockey game and this was the days of Bobby Orr. At one point walking down the street I saw a curved park bench and did a slow-motion flip-cartwheel type move over it just for comic effect, which really wasn't necessary since we were already laughing. It was winter, and we turned our collars to the cold and damp. Boarding school was over, I was 17, and by Spring I'd be hitchhiking by myself around America.
I used to hang out with a guy who attempted to drink a gallon of a fine "Purple" "The Pride of Cucamonga" (Pardon the spelling if not correct). As he was valiantly down to about a quarter left in the bottle, he slipped and fell on the railroad tracks we were walking on and the bottle smashed under him. He was wearing white jeans and and they were splattered with the fine purple vintage. We staggered to his house, threw his jeans into the washer poured about three times the amount of detergent called for and broke his mom's washer. Guess who Jacko!
Reminds me of the guy who was carrying his wine in his pants pocket. He was so buzzed that he fell on the ground. The bottle broke and a stream of red poured down his pants. Whereupon he said, "I hope that's blood!"
Down in the South about the same time (1970-71?) the big thing was Liebframilch (spelling?). We liked to pour it into our boda bags, and go down to the outdoor concerts in Overton Park at "the shell". We'd partake of various things and then go in for the concert. At the time, the security guards didn't seem hip to the fact that boda bags could hold wine. My boda bag also often held my Dad's homemade elderberry wine.
From Wikipedia: "Liebfraumilch is a sweet white German wine. The name is a German word literally meaning "milk of our blessed mother" and derived from "liebe Frau" which translates to "beloved woman/lady"... The generic label Liebfraumilch is used to market low quality vintages from anywhere in the Rheinhessen/Nahe area. It is unknown in Germany and exclusively used for exports."
Yes...Blue Nun! Maybe we can have a tasting party: Blue Nun, Mateus, Lancers...maybe even a little Red Lady 21!
Thats right Jack'O its Ma-Toose. Being married to a portuguese/Brazilian, I know. By the way check out "Newark Speaks.com for current news on your former habitat.
Thanks, my Frank, I'd forgotten about Blue Nun... Urp.
But, "Red Lady 21"? That must have been an East Coast thing. At any rate, I never met her in Hawaii.
Jim, MD 20-20? That one I do remember, by reputation only, of course. I do believe that dog still lives on today.
Mateus *was* classy -- I mean, look at the bottle. Wow. And yes, made a great candle holder with real ambiance. Before we ever used the word "ambiance".
I don't remember it tasting very good, though. None of the wine I drank back then did, however. It really would be interesting to taste some now, what would we think?
in my day it was Boone's Farm. If we felt like "the good stuff", we got the Andre's. I think it was Andre's. Pink Duck. Something like that. I still don't drink wine.
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
I left out two details. First of all, the Mateus bottle made an excellent candle holder, particularly after it had been used for several different candles and had all sorts of drippings down its side. The Italian restaurants used to do the same thing with those cheesy chianti bottles that came with a basket around them, but for a teenybopper crash pad, only Mateus would do. (O.k., maybe Lancers, which was the equivalent of Mateus, but just those two.)
Comments (1)
We were talking about trying to track down a bottle of Mateus to see how it's held up over the years, but our bud the wine expert says it's not available in the Portland market. Anybody seen it anywhere near here?
Posted by: Jack Bog at July 30, 2006 03:00 PMJack, I know you won't answer, but I remember many nights with brother Gary doing a few bottles of Mateus. But perish the thought, we never thought about hash!!!
Posted by: Jim Golden at July 30, 2006 06:07 PMYou got my heart, you got my soul, you got the silver you got the gold. Ahhhhhh! memories!
Posted by: Patti at July 30, 2006 07:10 PMWhat was that about a boomer's lament a few days ago?
Posted by: UR Jake Morgendorffer at July 30, 2006 08:07 PMOkay, I've held back my Portugese wine story but as long as we're sharing: I graduated a semester early from a boarding school in Exeter, New Hampshire, and me and another American kid from Arabia went into Boston, and hired someone to buy us wine. We ordered Mateus since that was probably the only kind we could think of right then. I also see an obaque bottle in my memory but I believe it came in the bottle you have pictured. Anyway we ended up at a Boston Bruins hockey game and this was the days of Bobby Orr. At one point walking down the street I saw a curved park bench and did a slow-motion flip-cartwheel type move over it just for comic effect, which really wasn't necessary since we were already laughing. It was winter, and we turned our collars to the cold and damp. Boarding school was over, I was 17, and by Spring I'd be hitchhiking by myself around America.
Posted by: Bill McDonald at July 30, 2006 11:20 PMI used to hang out with a guy who attempted to drink a gallon of a fine "Purple" "The Pride of Cucamonga" (Pardon the spelling if not correct). As he was valiantly down to about a quarter left in the bottle, he slipped and fell on the railroad tracks we were walking on and the bottle smashed under him. He was wearing white jeans and and they were splattered with the fine purple vintage. We staggered to his house, threw his jeans into the washer poured about three times the amount of detergent called for and broke his mom's washer. Guess who Jacko!
Posted by: Jim Golden at July 31, 2006 09:59 AMReminds me of the guy who was carrying his wine in his pants pocket. He was so buzzed that he fell on the ground. The bottle broke and a stream of red poured down his pants. Whereupon he said, "I hope that's blood!"
Posted by: Jack Bog at July 31, 2006 12:04 PMToo funny!
Posted by: Jim Golden at July 31, 2006 12:32 PMDown in the South about the same time (1970-71?) the big thing was Liebframilch (spelling?). We liked to pour it into our boda bags, and go down to the outdoor concerts in Overton Park at "the shell". We'd partake of various things and then go in for the concert. At the time, the security guards didn't seem hip to the fact that boda bags could hold wine. My boda bag also often held my Dad's homemade elderberry wine.
Posted by: Lily at July 31, 2006 06:38 PMFrom Wikipedia: "Liebfraumilch is a sweet white German wine. The name is a German word literally meaning "milk of our blessed mother" and derived from "liebe Frau" which translates to "beloved woman/lady"... The generic label Liebfraumilch is used to market low quality vintages from anywhere in the Rheinhessen/Nahe area. It is unknown in Germany and exclusively used for exports."
Yes...Blue Nun! Maybe we can have a tasting party: Blue Nun, Mateus, Lancers...maybe even a little Red Lady 21!
Posted by: Frank Dufay at August 1, 2006 06:21 AMMe and my crew leaned towards MD 20-20, Bali Hai, Tiger Rose and a few other fine vintages!
Posted by: Jim Golden at August 1, 2006 06:35 AMhow do you pronounce that stuff? is it mat-ee-us? ma-toos? mate-us?
Posted by: Gullyborg at August 1, 2006 01:40 PMThe only way I've ever heard is "ma-TOOSE."
Posted by: Jack Bog at August 1, 2006 05:33 PMThats right Jack'O its Ma-Toose. Being married to a portuguese/Brazilian, I know. By the way check out "Newark Speaks.com for current news on your former habitat.
Posted by: Jim Golden at August 1, 2006 07:08 PMThanks, my Frank, I'd forgotten about Blue Nun... Urp.
But, "Red Lady 21"? That must have been an East Coast thing. At any rate, I never met her in Hawaii.
Jim, MD 20-20? That one I do remember, by reputation only, of course. I do believe that dog still lives on today.
Mateus *was* classy -- I mean, look at the bottle. Wow. And yes, made a great candle holder with real ambiance. Before we ever used the word "ambiance".
I don't remember it tasting very good, though. None of the wine I drank back then did, however. It really would be interesting to taste some now, what would we think?
Posted by: Anne Dufay at August 1, 2006 08:42 PMHey did you have an curfew and or a legal age to drink statue back then?
Posted by: wendy samuelsen at August 2, 2006 11:04 AMin my day it was Boone's Farm. If we felt like "the good stuff", we got the Andre's. I think it was Andre's. Pink Duck. Something like that. I still don't drink wine.
Posted by: pril at August 2, 2006 01:38 PM[Posted as indicated; restored later.]
Posted by Blog restoration | August 14, 2007 12:16 AM