Halloween night and we have a surprise visit from two friends of the longest acquaintance of my life, now at the front door and lo, they've brought us treats. It's their last bottle of the exact wine which they served Dawn and I on Halloween some twenty-four years back. This is a set up; Dawn and Connie have planned this quietly for years, to be held on the bottle's 30th year of being.
Between our households, we must have hunted down four or so cases of "The Lach". We printed t-shirts boldly announcing "Lach Man" superpowers, which we wore on trips to the North Coast. The 1978 (and its 1975 and 1977 brothers as well) were our personal secret handshake: our first wine-find of our own and it was drinking well back in 1984.
Buena Vista 1978 Lachryma Montis - Sonoma Valley Red Table Wine
This was supposedly a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and several other red grapes, presumably Pinot Noir and Barbera, but we never could discover exactly what from the winery. Supposedly a fine table wine on par with the Private Reserve program, it was produced at Buena Vista's old winery property and received a mixed barrel treatment of French, American and Yugoslavian. We laugh a bit before pulling the cork, having no hope this wine will drink well at all. But, for about twenty minutes, this pale garnet memory (marked with sediment bits throughout) gives a glimpse of its old self. It's a decent impersonation of a very old Chianti. A bit of dried rose petal, mint and cherry aroma. The flavors are somewhat quiet, a little watery but having a dill and cherry cola sweetness in the mouth, a nudge of sourness and sour cherry on the finish (something that I find typical in aged nebbiolo). Quickly though, the bottle turns sour and is undrinkable.
Sigh. We reflect on the bottles gone past and our own youth, long past as well. Dawn starts water for coffee and Connie pulls out her gooseberry pie. I run to the cold room for a 1/2 bottle of '83 Suduiraut. Life is good. So is the Suduiraut, wickedly decrepit tonight, darkened past amber and still sweet. Just how we like it with the Gooseberry pie.