A Note From The Cellarmaster

The other afternoon, one that was unique to my wife and I, we were confronted with not knowing what to do with ourselves. You see, we had taken the kids (Sara, 2 yrs. and Lisa 4 mos.) to grandma’s that morning and we expect­ed to be out all day. Lo and be­hold, we were back in town by 2:30pm and were not committed to picking up the kids until 5:30pm. Wow! Three whole hours of unin­terrupted togetherness! What shall we do? Fly to Paris? That would take too long. Redecorate our home? Too many decisions. Go to the office? No way! How about a stroll through Old Town Pasadena and a glass of wine? That sounds perfect. For those of you who do not know Old Town, the city of Pasadena has done a wonderful job of renovating and preserving the character that once was synon­ymous with Pasadena. The restau­rants are plentiful. Our favorite is Mi Piace on Colorado near Ray­mond. A fun atmosphere and good food further complimented by the wonderful desserts baked by the neighboring Pasadena Baking Company. Not to mention a great wine list. Anyway… we strolled down Colorado and spied an inter­esting bar at Delacey’s Club 41 on S. De Lacey Ave. We sauntered in and sat at the bar. I felt like a beer and Sandra decided she would like a glass of wine. Being the oeno­phile I am, I politely asked what they had in the way of red wine by the glass. The bartendress got very excited and said, “I have a wonderful Cabernet we just got in and it is excellent.” I mean, she was really confident that Sandra would enjoy this wine and that it was a good value. I am thinking “Oh, right!”, I said (not to be rude), “Oh really, what is it?”. She proceeded to pull from the rack a 1989 Caber­net Sauvignon from Chile – a 1989 Villa Montes. I turned to Sandra and said, “This is February’s im­port Wine of the Month!”. “You’re kidding.”, she replied. Then I real­ized that I had selected this wine months ago, before it had even been introduced on the West Coast. This is what is fun about the “Club”.

We get to taste and evaluate wines that are not even in the country or released yet. To these wines, becoming a selection of the Wine of the Month Club is a major feather to present to the rest of the marketplace. After talking to the importer about this little rendez­vous, he mentioned that “of course, we like to talk about the wines as being chosen out of hun­dreds for your selections”. Then I thought, maybe the members have had similar experiences that we can write about in future newsletters.

So, I am soliciting you for your stories of close encounters of the wine kind. If you have been at a restaurant or out with friends for a drink and have enjoyed a wine previously featured in the “Club”: let me know – I would love to share your experience with the oth­er club members.

Salud! PKjr

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