Overlooked and Forgotten

[Craig Camp]

Overlooked and Forgotten

It was one of those winter nights in Chicago - cold, windy with snow blowing straight into your eyes. It was a tough day and all I wanted was to be left alone with a meal and a good bottle. There was nothing else to expect from the day.

Then she showed up. She was looking quite a bit older than when I last saw her, but you could see she was trying to look as good as she could. What she was wearing was a little dusty and draped lower on the shoulder than was proper for someone her age - you could tell she thought she was still in good shape.

After all this time I was a little afraid to open up with her - everyone changes. When her taste crossed my lips again it all came back to me - sure she was a little faded and not as intense - but now she knew how to do everything with more style and grace.

When I first picked her up it was just something for everyday - you know what I mean? Nothing serious. I mean I enjoyed each encounter - all eleven of them. I just did not expect this chance twelfth meeting this many years later.

Her red dress was now quite faded - a bit brown. That perfume that she still wore was out of fashion and you could tell she was running low because she was putting it on lighter than before. Then she was gone forever. My lips could still taste her for awhile, but then all was just a memory.

I know that no one cares about these small affairs anymore, but they still move me.

TN: 1982 Chateau du Courlat, Lussac Saint Emilion

An overlooked bottle from a case I bought for everyday drinking almost 2 decades ago. I found a bottle with some surprise while looking for something else. Low on the shoulder now - not looking promising. The color is light scarlet with more than a hint of brown. On the nose it is light, but elegant and complex. In the mouth it is a bit thin and tannic but all in all a very enchanting wine to drink.

I finished the whole bottle with an omelet and a salad while thinking about how no one seems to care about lovely little wines like this anymore. No high power or new oak here - just good winemaking and a light touch. No it is not now and never was a great wine, but twenty years later is was still good enough for a couple of hours of pleasant contemplation and a bit of sadness that no one cares about wine like this anymore.

How many $8.00 wines are there today that can provide such simple yet real pleasures at 20 years old?

[awbrig]

nice writing...sounds like one of those black and white movies!

" a dame walks into the bar..."

Edited January 7, 2003 by awbrig (log)

[maggiethecat]

Craig:

So you made me sniffle a bit. But I am so with you about the eight dollar bottle.

"Her red dress was faded..a bit brown"

James Cain, back from the dead?

Write more!

[maggiethecat]

P.S. Awbrig and I are Chicagoans. We lap up this noir/snow thing.