How Do You Select Wine?

Today, I was at the grocery store on the wine aisle, looking for a new bottle to try.  I'm not a big drinker, but I do like to try new wines.  However, my criteria for choosing a bottle is not very sophisticated.  I'm not looking at a certain year or location.  Instead, here's what I am thinking...

Which bottle has an interesting label?  (Once, I bought Red Truck wine because I liked the picture of the truck.)
Which one have I never tried? (Today I bought Earthwise Wine just because I'd never heard of it.)
What has an interesting name? (This is the only reason I ever bought Fat Bastard wine.)
What's under $10?

So, as you can see, my criteria is not very discerning.  No wine snobs in this house!

Before I got pregnant, Ryan and I had started going to tastings and trying to learn about different kinds of wine.  I like going to tastings because they can tell you what you are tasting.  Somehow without that expert, I just don't know WHAT I am tasting. 

Lately, I have been stuck on the reds-- mostly Pinot Noirs, with an occasional Cabernet.  I like Pinot because it is the lightest of the red wines.  One I have been buying lately is Redwood Creek.  I REALLY like this one. 

So today, as I was looking for fun labels and names, I stumbled on Earth Wise Cabernet.  It was $5.99 at Harris Teeter.  So the price was great!

I actually really like it!  Not bad for $5.99!  If I knew some wine language, I would try to describe it to you... It says on the label that it has cherries and blackberries.  Maybe I can taste the blackberries.  It's more full-bodied than I usually like, but tonight I thought it was pretty good.  Earth Wise claims to use environmentally sound practices, so this is supposed to be a "green" wine.  Now, I am not sure what their "environmentally friendly practices" are, so I can't tell you if this is for sure.  But I bet it helps it to sell!

So... how do YOU select wine?  What's your favorite?  I am curious to hear some responses on this one.

Today, Sadie was sick, so Ryan stayed home and made pork tenderloin for dinner.  It was sooooo tender-- practically fell apart when I sliced it. 

Here's how he made it:

Season with salt, lime pepper (we find this at Sam's), and Emeril's Original Essence.  Place in the crock pot and splash with white wine (about 1/4 cup).  Cook on low heat 6-8 hours, or until cooked all the way through. 

We served it over potatoes with green french onion green beans. 

My camera battery was dying, so these pics did not turn out that great.  It tasted better than these pictures show.

Tomorrow is my Zumba Demo at Oakland Baptist Church!  Come and join us for some Zumba!  See the details on the side of my page.  Now, I've got to make sure my playlist is ready!  I am looking forward to this fun night!

Oh-- and I ordered my new camera lenses!  I am so excited to see what I can do with them.  They should be here later this week!  YAY!