Getting My Kicks On the Road with a Travel-Ready Bordeaux

The works of the Beat Generation writers have enchanted me since I was in my early teens. There is something intoxicating about the call of the open road and the spirit of being free. In that spirit, I recently curled up with a copy of Jack Kerouac's On the Road and a yummy '05 Bordeaux.

"All those lovely California cottonwoods and eucalpti brooding on all sides."

With that line, it is almost like Kerouac knew what my palate was experiencing as I sipped the Chateau Jalousie, a gorgeous wine full of earthy herbal notes, eucalyptus on the nose and dark fruit as formidable as  Route 66, that vintage highway to the West.

"Looked up and saw jackpines in the moon...mad drunken Americans in the mighty land."

Jalousie wants to take you places, its heady aroma reminiscent of a late-night excursion through a forest of pine trees, on a path well lit by a full Moon.

"Soon it got dusk, a grapy dusk, a purple dusk...the sun the color of pressed grapes, slashed and burgundy red...."

The wine is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and boasts a deep red hue with a hint of orange on its rim. With some hot jazz from Charlie Ventura providing the soundtrack to my retro evening, the only thing better would have been a visit from the Father of the Beat Generation himself, reading to me aloud as we sipped  together...well, a Chick can always dream, can't she?

Visit me on Twitter @VinoChick75 and at mydesert.com/vinochick.