Big Netflix Love (and an Italian charmer)

I could go on and on and on about Big Love, the HBO series about a polygamist Mormon family living clean in Sandy, Utah. I just love Chloe Sevigny! Bill Paxton is great, too, as is Jeanne Tripplehorn and the young woman who plays Margene. All the main characters are superb actors; it’s well-written, consistently dramatic AND funny; and the one-man, three-wife setup triggers my shite like nobody’s business. If you find yourself yelling at the television screen – hey, that’s a VERY well done production.

Big Love soothes my “must-work-out-to-excellent-shows” treadmill requirement. I do so miss Dead Like Me, and I did enjoy Carnivale, and Six Feet Under and Heroes. And now I have ANOTHER winner I just discovered: Wonderfalls. Stick with it for 20 minutes, and you’re hooked. I shan’t reveal much of the plot, which centers around an Ivy league grad working (barely) at a gift shop in Niagara Falls. Deeply and slacker-ly cynical, lacking a warm-and-fuzzy vibe, Jaye isn’t sure WHAT to think when a plastic-molded figurine of a lion starts talking to her. Just watch it. What fun!

Deadwood is dead-on in its acting, but far too violent for me, never mind the not-so-buff full frontal male nudity. Dexter is horribly bloody, too – the main man is a blood-spatter expert, and a serial killer of serial killers – but Michael C. Hall is so compelling I’m forced to recommend the show (he's the straightlaced, gay brother from Six Feet Under).

Yeah yeah I know, it’s a WINE blog. So okay, here’s my tip of the week: Run out to Costco and snag the Crios Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, another yummalicious winner from Argentinean winemaker Susana Balbo – whose Malbec is my favorite. This Cab is quite a value at $11 (or $13, which is what most wine shops will charge). You'll want to grab several bottles.

Or go to Cellar Rat and get something in the white wine department from the Alcesti winery, whose winemaker is a stainless steel purist, and handsome to boot.

The Alcesti vineyards are in Sicily, and the formally dressed young man responsible for them is named (I think) Gianfranco Paladino. We tried his Isola Blanco, a light, fresh white wine blended from grapes indigenous to Sicily: Grecanico, Catarratto and Ansonica. This makes for a nice change from summer’s golden boy Pinot Grigio, and the names trip playfully from the tongue.

We also tried the Alcesti Grillo Sicilia, another unoaked white that I found downright weird, and that Lisa found funkily interesting ( Grillo means “cricket” – isn’t that cute?). She grabbed a bottle just so our friends could marvel at the unique nose and flavors. But my favorite of the trio of whites may be the Grecanico, the single varietal also getting the stainless steel fermentation treatment of which Gianfranco is so fond. He explains that the Grecanico has flavors of dried fruit and almonds, but I liked it anyway.

The Isola Nero D’Avola was too Pinot-Noir-like for my taste, although that is exactly what causes others to recommend it. The second Alcesti red was my preferred bottling, a Syrah that was deeper and more flavorful than the others. In a charmingly thick accent, Mr. Paladino allowed as how this wine spent six months in oak. Oak, at last! And even better for being poured by the winemaker himself. Did I mention that he’s handsome?