WTN: A California bubble of exceptional quality

[Jenise]

So yesterday was Bill's lunch, theme: California. As not just the only Americans in the group but a native Californian, I felt some responsibility for REALLY showing up and I have a plethora of Open That Bottle month candidates to share. These days, with my husband having memory issues, it's a little more complicated getting out of the house and when you're packing wine, wine bags, wine glasses, a food bag (I was responsible for the cheese course this month), the Canadough wallet, Nexus passes, jackets and a tall glass of ice water, it takes a minute to pack up.

Because I had a special California bubbly to share (note below) I had begged to bring the starter wine (below), but also planned not just one but two reds, the choice of which I dawdled on. My last '74 Cal Cab was definitely going, but what other wine should I bring? I have access to, and own, wines these guys would read about all the time but maybe never get a chance to taste. Do I bring the 2007 Parker 100 point Cab, Galloni's first ever 100 pt syrah, or another famous name they'd all have heard about with a little more age on it? Everything else was in the car, I finally made my choice and handed the bottle to Bob who was standing next to the open wine case, "This is the one. Zip it up!" When we got to Bill's, I realized that Bob had done exactly as instructed. He put it in the bag and zipped it up.

But he didn't put the bag in the car.

So as I explained to Bill and Sue, the bad news is that we didn't bring our red wines. But the good news was that the starter bubble I was so excited to share had been packed separately with cold packs, so we weren't entirely empty-handed.

2015 Wenzlau Vineyard Cuvée L'Inconnu Blanc de Noirs Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir
I had not had this wine before, but I'd had their 2014 Blanc de Blanc which easily passed for French at a tasting last summer. I had high hopes that this would do the same even though from a riper vintage. It did. Pale coral color with a tiny persistent bead, taut flavors of yellow apple and raspberry, some spice, mildly ripe yet dry. Truly exceptional. Thank you WST for introducing me to this amazing producer.

Quite the story. I'm sure it gave you whiplash!

I assume there was plenty of wine available at the gathering, and nobody was going to go thirsty. But definitely embarrassing when you show up without your intended contribution!

[Jenise]

Just two weeks ago Bob and I were meeting up with a different local tasting group. It has always been Bob's job to locate the correct box of glassware and put that in the car. Early in the day we discussed which glasses I wanted to take. He launched to locate said box but unbenownst to me failed to get them in the car. So yesterday, leaving nothing to chance, I made sure the glasses were in the car. They were, but not the wine!

Reminds me of a Supervisory Techniques class I took a zillion years ago--my employer, Fluor, was big on in-house training. The lecture that day was about giving complete instructions. He picked up a box of paper clips, handed them to the first guy in our U-shaped configuration and said, "take one and pass it on." The guy did so. So on and on the lecturer went and finally he was ready for whatever demonstration he had planned, "Now does everyone have a paper clip?" he asked. We all pointed at guy #2 who had received the box but sat patiently holding it aloft, awaiting further instructions. Pretty funny. And that was me yesterday. I didn't tell Bob to put the bag in the car.