It is always a good thing to be reminded of your roots. In my case, it was via e-mail: "You don’t mention Boone's Farm Tickle Pink in your wine blog…it is after all where you got your start."
Travel with me to 1983. I was a mature looking 16 and did the weekly grocery shopping in Belfast, Maine. Holly had her license and a `76 Chevy Nova and I had the weekly grocery money - we made a GREAT team. I was never carded, and would always slip a couple of bottles of Tickle Pink in with the groceries. We tried other Boone's Farm offerings, but we loved our Tickle Pink.
It always made for a good Saturday night when there was nothing else to do. We were so young then, Holly, Timmy, Stephen and I. I'd cook (usually fried rice) and we would drink and play darts in the dining room. We had amazing times and destroyed the wood paneling in that room. (Apologies to Martha who inherited the house)
That is where my cheap wine habit started. I had forgotten or repressed the memories. In an act of divine justice, Holly & Tim are married with teenage girls. They are lucky that Trader Joe's hasn't come to Maine yet!
How would the 16 year old me review the wine? Like this:
Boone's Farm Tickle Pink is wicked awesome. It is sweet and when we put on some tunes and I start cooking, we just keep pouring and pouring. I got some really cool McDonald's wine glasses, they are a smoked brown color, and they look really good. Holly asked me to make some fried rice, so I grabbed Grampy's skillet, cooked some minute rice and started chopping. Fried Rice with duck sauce is awesome....
Yes folks, that is where this reviewer got her start. And even though Tickle Pink is long retired (Boone's Farm has a fan club FYI) and I haven't used Minute Rice since then - that is where the seeds were sown. Cooking for people I love, sharing a bottle of wine and loving life - it doesn't get any better than that. And those McDonald's wine glasses? I wish I had kept them.
Are these them?? http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-OF-FOUR-HTF-RARE-MCDONALDS-WINE-GLASSES-MUST-SEE_W0QQitemZ380102264510QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item587fdc46be&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
ReplyDeleteNo. (believe me, I looked on the internet for them) They may have been considered sundae glasses. They were stemware (of a fashion) and smoked brown glass with no logo.
ReplyDeleteThanks for looking though!!
1/2 joking: Have you shopped the finer wine dealers, auction houses?
DeleteThe other half: Vintage is hot, hot, hot now. .
I think they were actually Water Goblets not wine glasses. I could be wrong but I drank my wine and other cocktails from them. Never water. Had a set of 8 myself. Think I sold 'em in a yard sale with all my other McDonald Glasses. Big mistake probably.
ReplyDeleteI remember Tickle Pink back in the day. I thought it was yummy and remember the rumor about it having Formaldehyde in it (used in embalming) that is why it retired. LOL I always said I will forever be preserved. The 80's rocked!
ReplyDeleteIt did have formaldehyde in it. My friend and I read it right from the ingredients but, didn't it taste like cotton candy?
DeleteCame across this blog as a flashback also. The year was also 1983, in fact today is the anniversary of my first date with a 16 year old guy that I was having my first date with. It was a school dance and we were given wine glasses with the date and theme as souvenir. Yes, a wine glass at a high school dance! Definitely not a water glass or goblet. Anyway, after the dance we got some Tickle Pink to put in our wine glass...first time I ever had it. What a fun memory and love your 16 year old review. Fast forward, we got married five years later and our taste in food and wine progressed. My husband got into gourmet cooking as a hobby. We were married 27 years. He recently passed away unexpectedly. Today I went out to find some Strawberry Hill as I heard about Tickle Pink being discontinued from above. Went to Trader Joes, Total Wine and More, Safeway with no luck. In fact the gal at Total Wine suggested kindly that I might want to try a gas station! I laughed and said no offense taken, it's a nostalgic reason for my interest. Got in the car and our song came on....I'll just have to toast to him with something better in that glass, as we've done over the years on this date. I'll always trasure the memories and yes, good times in the 80's.
ReplyDeletehow can i get some tickle pink wine it`s the only wine i like
ReplyDeleteIf you can ever find some tickle pink.can you reply back to me it is the only wine i can drink and i want my daughter to try it she is 29 and i have let introduced her to mad dog 20 20 which she did not like and i dont any more lol and everclear which she likes and so do i but you cant drink a lot of that cause it probably isnt good for you and now i am really wanting her to try tickle pink. We drink responsibly by drinking at home
DeleteBack in 1983 I was very pregnant with my youngest son and the trend of a "Glass Of Wine A Day Started" Heck yeah my Dr. Told me to drink 1 glass of wine a day. Once a week my girlfriend's and there little one's would come to the house.( most of had 1 kid and 1 on the way) for a wine play date. The kid's played in living room we played cards and drank our Boone's Farm wine basically cuz we couldn't afford anything else but each one of us would bring a bottle and we would drink all the flavors in shot glasses so we could drink a lot of different kinds but only have one glass. Turned out that most of us absolutely love the wickedly awesome Tickle Pink!!! Than one week I went to buy my bottle of Tickle Pink and the store owner told me yo buy as many as i could cuz this was his last shipment of that flavor. Didn't believe him but got a few bottles for later. Next week sure enough he had none on his shelf he had taken his last bottle and set it a side for me. With a saddened heart this 21 year old went home and to this day haven't found a wine that I enjoyed as much as Tickle Pink. If they were to bring it back I sure would become a paper bag wino!!
ReplyDeletenice
ReplyDeleteOh my 1988 comes back to me plain and clear I remember in my senior year and in my junior year me and my friends would always enjoy some Tickle Pink would love to buy and have some more
ReplyDeleteSounds about right...1982 me and my friends would buy this and go 4 wheeling in the woods and sit around and drink it. Loved the 'crackle' sound the cap made when you opened a bottle for the first time...we actually used to argue over who got to do that. I think Gallo had a slogan for their wine commercials with Orson Welles or somebody saying "we will sell no wine before it is time". We used to imitate that voice and say "We will sell no Tickle, before it is pink".
ReplyDeleteThank you for putting all these strategies into a very readable place. It shows your ability and great skills. keep sharing such articles in future. New Zealand Wine Route
ReplyDeleteWhen did Tickled Pink retire we just came across two bottles?
ReplyDeleteBack in the days that’s all I drank, was Boonesfarm wine, but I have a tickle me pink that’s never been open still full
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