Every single time something happens like the incident today in New York City in the subway, I ask myself if luxury products really matter. It’s not just a knee jerk reaction, I actually really think about it and wonder is there anybody out there who cares when the chips are down. I think the answer is yes, people do care. The reason that I think people still feel that luxury products such as wine are important when terrible things happen is because they are a symbol of enjoying life. The whole point of terrorism is to get people to change their way of life and to be frightened out of doing what they normally do. These thoughts are encouraging to me on a day like today when a random person tries to explode a pipe bomb in a tunnel I have been through a gazillion times in my life.

That oddly enough led me to thinking about easy times and more frivolous moments such as a weekend I had in November at the American Wine Society conference in the Poconos. While there I tasted a host of wines I didn’t know well including the one above from Empordà, a region in Spain. Empordà is a Spanish DO in the Northeastern corner of Caralonia, the province of Girona.

I did a project some years back for a winery from Girona. I had never realized that it was the same region as the Costa Brava where I visited many years ago on my first trip to Spain. Infact, until 2006, the region was called DO Empordà-Costa Brava. It’s an area that is traversed by a number of rivers including the Muga, Llobregat and Manol rivers. It’s a small area with 2020 hectares, 423 winegrowers and 45 wineries. They make about 3.5 million bottles of wine a year.

The wine I tasted at the American Wine Society conference was an easy drinking Garnacha based wine. It was lovely and paired perfectly with the host of pizzas and salads that they offered that evening. Uncomplicated, direct and friendly, it was exactly what I needed after a long drive the day I arrived.

It comes from a Espelt Viticulteurs, a family-run winery equipped which has vineyards in the Cap de Creus Natural Park and the Albera Natural Site. The winery has 200 hectares of vineyards where they grow Grenache gris, Grenache blanc, Grenache noir, Chardonnay, Muscat of Alexandria, Sauvignon blanc, Macabeo, Xarel·lo, Samson, Syrah and Merlot. They make white, rosé, red and sweet wines as well as olive oil.

This wine, Coralí, is a classic rosé, pale salmon in color with red fruits and flowers. They call Grenache 100% Lledoner negre in this part of Spain. This wine pairs beautifully with seafood, paella and other Mediterranean dishes.

Nicely priced at $10, it is a good antidote to winter blues of all kinds.