Who: Shoofly – The Freckle (14.5% alcohol)

What: White wine blend (40% Marsanne, 37% Roussanne, 23% Viognier)

When: 2008

Where: Adelaide, Australia

Why: Because you really need another song from kindergarten playing through your head all day long.

How: Ok, everyone, sing it with me: “Shoofly, don’t bother me, Shoofly, don’t bother me, Shoofly, don’t bother me… ’cause I belong to somebody.” I know, I know: it DID bother you, didn’t it? You’re very welcome for making that your ear worm song of the day. And if you can get over your (understandably) very deep resentment of me for the moment, I’d like to tell you about the wine itself.

I first glimpsed this bottle on the shelf of my favorite local wine department. They consider it to be one of the top 75 wines under $10 and gave it a special place in the store. So who am I to argue? (For the record, it was $9.99.) Anyway…. No, the bottle had not been lax in sunscreen over the years and wound up with a bad case of sunspots – the “freckle” in this name comes from the Roussanne grape, which is, in fact, freckled (or “famously spotty” if you go by what the Shoofly website has to say).

Right away, the nose on this wine took me to the seaside. Some salt air, some melon and I was completely refreshed just from sniffing. But being the trooper that I am, I moved on and started sipping. WOW! The wine just burst into my mouth. Didn’t expect that! The taste was slightly oakey with a bit of honey and some heavier minerals. To look at this pale gold wine, you wouldn’t think it had a lot of body to it, but it was heavier in my mouth than I expected. The finish was lightly tingly and tannic (again, not what you’d expect from a freckled white) but it makes sense once you read that the wine is first fermented in stainless steel and then moved to French oak for three months. I’d say it that was perfect timing!

I would be remiss if I didn’t add that Shoofly Freckle comes bottled with a handy-dandy, I-need-the-wine-RIGHT-now, Mom friendly screw top.

New lyrics: “Shoofly, you don’t bother me. Shoofly, you don’t bother me. Shoofly, you don’t bother me. Because your wine is so tast-y.” (Yeah, I know, they probably won’t win me a songwriting Grammy, but I did find us all a great new wine!)