Unreal

Date night, we still a few more weeks of date night before Amy leaves…I adore these evenings, this is where we let ourselves kinda pickle in one another…feed off of our shared, “Screw it, let’s do it” attitude. We drink too much, eat too much, and behave like chicks our age have no business behaving. Friday mornings…well they pretty much suck, painful, and many of our loyal Friday evening class attendees can attest to the aftermath that is Sam and Amy after date night. “How are you?” they gingerly ask and my answer is always the same… “Consistent” they know what it means, I’m dying. My eyes are swimming, my tummy is dodgy and my hand-eye skills, they are bumpy at best. It’s rough but oh so worth it.

So the way it goes is, it’s me, Carl and Amy…sometimes Merzie but most of the time, just the three of us. So with the looming “shit” that is the move to Texas, Amy’s hubby has wanted in on date night, we are all so interlocked that any excuse we have now…well, we are together. So tonight date night was at The Vortex, (Amy’s house for the newer readers…it’s where all good intentions go to die. Done more seriously “NO WAY…I did that?!” stuff there than anywhere, ever) and Amy cooked us dinner.

“Just come to the house. I’ll cook, we can just chill. It’ll be fun” was Amy’s perky little invite. A night at The Vortex is something one must be prepared for….you don’t just walk into this lightly…trust me. I was nervous as I heard the little chirp escape her adorable lips this morning, but true to date night form I heard myself say, “Yeah, that’s perfect. I’m in and I’ll bring that wine we were sent”. Spent the rest of the afternoon wondering what the hell I was thinking.

Amy and I were sent a bottle of wine, a wine we had never tasted, a wine that many have never tasted. The bottle was sent for us to share with each other before she left, sent by someone that knows how dearly we love one another and wanted to share one of his life’s pleasures with us…so freaking amazing. You know when you say something in passing and someone really hears you…like really hears you, well that is a gift in itself but to have that understanding spill across your palate…unreal.

Dinner was simple, baked chicken thighs, salad, baked potatoes and mushrooms…simple right? Yeah we left the complexity to the wines…Jesus the wines. So upon hearing that I would indeed be bringing the bottle of 1998 Chateau Rayas Reserve Chateauneuf-du-Pape we had been sent, Amy thought it might be time to hit the ol’ wine fridge again, 2004 Jobard Meursault En La Barre, just another Thursday night round these parts folks.

Dinner was ready, we decanted both wines and sat down to eat. First impressions, well we were digging the Meursault with the chicken, just seemed more together at the time…but the more we sat, the more the Rayas settled into the glass, opened…evolved, the more we found ourselves seduced by the fucking unbelievable, expressive, aromatically brilliant Chateau Rayas. I noticed the change about half way through dinner…it was opening. What had been kind of hot and brash had now become sultry, alluring and down-right heart pounding.

I said something over dinner, “Um, let it be…wait, something is happening here” and thankfully she listened. We sipped our “little” Meursault throughout the meal and moved the party outside…brought the glasses and decanter of Rayas. We chatted, made fun of one another and laughed as we always do, but I noticed something, something I have never in all my Amy loving years seen before…she left her glass of Meursault untouched while she fondled the glass of Rayas. Never….I have never seen that happen before, she is a white wine lover, she will drink a little red with dinner but once the meal is done...right back to white, always. The wine had gotten comfy, settled and was now showing us things, things like neither of us had ever experienced before. Unreal, it was silky, earthy, full of life…lots of bright red fruit, but there was a refinement unlike any Rhone wine we had ever had. “Dude, it’s like aged Burgundy…but with more um, nibble” was all I could think to say. Shit I still don’t know what to say…other than, “I get it”…”I get and how can I thank you?!”

To care for a wine, stash it away…love it and wait for the right moment to drink it, that’s cool and all but….to send that bottle to someone else…so they can love and understand it, well that is, well that is the greatest gift ever.

Humbled
Unbelievably humbled
Thank you
We loved it
Thought about you while drinking it
Don’t know how to thank you

Selfless acts often go without praise or appreciation…this one has not. We both thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You made our night…made our year, we adore you