Our Scandal wine recaps are back!!! Take it away, Abby…

Scandal’s BACK. I’m BACK (thanks, Grapefriend!), and by the end of the hour Olivia is BACK doing what she does best, though perhaps to the detriment of her emotional health. Above all else the wine is BACK in a big old plot-driving way.

wine moment #1

We open on a natural-haired Liv—or Julia Baker as she’s now going by—reading “Gone Girl”, drinking wine, and getting frisky with her current hot man, Jake, on an island 100 miles off the coast of Zanzibar. This does not sound like a terrible way to spend time AT ALL. (I should note, though, that I am still Team Olitz even though Fitz is a pretty terrible boyfriend a lot of the time. I am also always and forever Team Ben from the Felicity days despite the fact that Noel was obviously the better dude in many ways. Sorry, Scott Foley! You are extremely handsome, however.)

The pair is interrupted by a delivery boat bringing the greatest of all Grapefriend gifts—a rare 1994 red wine (I’ll let GF fill you in on all the details!) Only 100 bottles were made and Liv’s now got five of them. This may be the most joyful we’ve ever seen her as she lets her beer-loving boyfriend know that this wine will “change his life!”

Alas, those who live by the wine also die by the wine. At least, Julia Baker does. Back in the now-deserted OPA headquarters, Quinn has used Julia’s taste for fine wine to track her down on the island by way of a newspaper clipping about Harrison’s death.

And with that, it’s goodbye Julia Baker’s island and hello Olivia Pope’s DC.

grapefriend’s wine recommendation: I don’t care if you’re getting a whole boatload of Latour – you cannot drink red wine on the beach in the sun! That is just so gross. Also, I’ve never heard of this “life-changing” wine she got, Chateau Dubolet? I think it’s fake, or I could just not know about every chateau that only makes 100 bottles of their wine. Anyway, as I said in yesterday’s post, if she’s near Zanzibar she should be downing some really good South African Chenin Blanc. If you can’t get of the premier French stuff, Liv needs to meet some old Grand Cru Chablis.

wine moment #2

After finding her team disbanded and fairly pissed off in general, Liv decides to go meet her father which is basically like frosting a misery cake with lies and betrayal. But of course, Papa Pope can be counted on for one good thing: a big old glass of expensive wine. Liv’s wine goggles make it impossible to discern that her dear old dad is lying to her face for like the 100000000^th time. Sigh.

grapefriend’s wine recommendation: So much death news in this scene. You need something heavy. I’d go with Mourvedre, a heavy red grape often used for blending in the southern Rhone. But I’m using it here because it sounds like it starts with “mort” = death in French!

wine moment #3

As Liv tries to plan Harrison’s funeral back home in her apartment filled with the finest coats in all the land, she sips from one of her signature (Crate & Barrel Camille) super-duper long stemmed glasses. You know the kind that any of us normal humans would spill and break within minutes? Sadly the glass is left unfinished when she’s called away on the case of the rapey Senator that will get her back into the fixing biz (and DC and probably Fitz’s arms) again.

grapefriend’s wine recommendation: If you’re going to be leaving wine unfinished, don’t pour out anything that will “change your life” (second time Olivia’s used this phrase – and that’s just to my knowledge). Sometimes you can be happy with a regular old easy drinker. Just something a little light but serious (she’s planning a funeral after all) – an Oregon Pinot Noir fits the bill. She wouldn’t ever drink anything too cheap and easy, but I wouldn’t waste a Burgundy if you might be called away to get fixing again. 

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a special shout-out to Drunk Mellie. FLOTUS prefers the hard stuff generally and Drunk Mellie is fantastic. Though this season her humor is tinged with deep sadness over the death of her son. But she’s gripping nonetheless, 1976 bikini line and all.

Come back next week for the second Scandal wine recap of the season – and follow along on Twitter @grapefriend and @abbygardner!