It's the time I start to think about it.
It won't be long until Thanksgiving and only a few weeks more until Christmas. There will be mounds of turkey, roast beef, stuffing, creamed onions, green beans, heavenly rolls, cranberry sauce, au gratin potatoes and who know what all.
Most wine publications and the assorted experts will talk about pairing and matching and the difficult flavors of the season. Maybe Pinot Noir they'll say. Perhaps an un-oaked Chardonnay? I don't pay attention to any of those things.
What I consider is what wines will bring out the most memories? The most stories of wine country trips. The smiles as we think about the people at the wineries that we visited this year. Last year. Years before.
For us there will be a Frank Family wine - probably one of their wonderful sparklers. Did you know this winery used to be Hanns Kornell and specialized in sparking wine? They did. And Dennis and his group can tell you all about it. Oh - and if you meet Dennis - ask him about teaching his grandson to drive. Just remembering Dennis tell the story makes us smile.
They'll certainly be a Toad Hollow. Why? Because Frankie and her late husband Todd were so wonderful to us when we came tasting all those years ago. Then they sat you down around a big table and Todd (or Toad as he was known) would tell you about their wines, their consulting wine maker Rodney Strong and keep pouring until the all the bottles were gone. Oh - or Hank the Wonder Weiner Dog had go for a walk.
There will definitely be a Clos Pegase Hommage Cab (from our vertical that goes back to 2001 at this point) so that we can tip a glass to Jan Shrem, his new wife - and to the late Mitsuko - his wife when we met them both on a river cruise in France in 2004.
You see - it's not just about the nose, the palate or the finish. It's just as much about the memories.
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