Orange you glad I didn't say juniper?

A few stray DW wines at the bottom!
Sometimes it's not a wine night; sometimes it's a gin & tonic night.  Like last night.  Which is sometimes precipitated by a sale at the liquor store with 8 bonus air miles ($30.40, saved 3 bucks).  I described the flavor to my fellow gin-enjoyer, Loretty, as: "Imagine Tanqueray and Hendrick's had a baby." 
I was drawn to the bottle to be honest, and the sale price, of course.  It was also aged in Cognac casks, which is quasi-wine-related, so it's sort of permissible to be added to a budget wine blog.  I loathe HATE purchasing anything from France (Bikini atoll.... Americans also on this same shit-list.  It was the ramming and eventual sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985 by a French boat which became my first campaign against motherfuckers and global injustice.  I was in 5th grade and wrote a letter to my MP.  I'm also partly Acadian, partly English, so there are genetic memories within all the proteins of my body that hate each other & France also), and didn't realize this was a French product.  It is a beautiful gin otherwise.  I went a-googling for details and found the Secret Gin Club:
http://secretginclub.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/citadelle-gin-review/
And I quote: "That may sound perverse, but there was just something about a French gin in a blue nautical bottle that made me want to hate it, but I just can’t. Citadelle has won me over."  I hear ya, brother.
Anyhoo, this gin is very smooth, one could drink it on the rocks.  In case you didn't know, though, it is very uncool to drink mainstream tonic water...  Hipsterism has invaded & polluted everything so the real, true booze snobs wouldn't dream of throwing some Schweppes on top of this gin.  But I did.  With cucumber slices, black pepper and mineral water.  My second (and final) cocktail of the evening was ice, gin, splash of 'mainstream' tonic (suck it, posers!), splash of water, orange and lime wedges smashed into the mix.  It was good, but almost too adorned.  This gin really stands alone.

My new #2 gin, after Hendrick's.

4.5! Great 2010 Cab from Mendoza, Argentina.  Cheap too: $10.95 - a most excellent Dignified Wino wine.  Discontinued, says the LCBO site, sadly. 

Yalumba Riesling, $11.95, is a 5 as far as Rieslings go - Australian (Yalumba makes one of my all time favourite Cabs, but it's never available), smooth as silk, it went perfectly with curry dishes.  Also discontinued, poo.  The Cupcake Red Velvet from Cali is good  $14.95, and a false 4 of 5.  It's too good...

Another Oz Ries.  Not awesome like the Yalumba.  $14.95, 3.5 of 5.  For that price I want my Aussie Riesling sweet, not tasting like it was diluted with a crappy sauv blanc, like this one.

Cupcake Cab, $14.95 - 3.5 of 5.  Good, but not as guzzleable as the Cupcake Red Velvet blend - THAT one is seriously, dangerously drinkable.  Like, if McDonald's made wine it would be that.  I see why it's so trendy.  Give it to someone who's not into wine, they will love it.

And for funsies, this is me at the hanging out at Jacob's Creek winery, '03.  Try the kangaroo tartare. 

Wolf Blass winery in Barossa region, South Australia 10 tears ago.  It no longer looks so rustic and has been replaced with an icky multi-million dollar visitor centre.