I love it when products and stories merge. Something real comes to life. An object achieves meaning. Something matter-of-fact becomes magical.
Christine has been reading 'Adventures on the Wine Route' by Kermit Lynch. Aloud, late in the evening, sending DAH to dreamland with but a few words. It's not that the stories are boring, or that Christine's voice is particularly droning and soporific. It's the combined comfort of the love embodied in her reading aloud, her gentle voice, and the wine stories that are so familiar and nurturing to me.
I read Kermit Lynch's book long ago, when it first came out. I already knew Kermit Lynch wines (imports, primarily from France, sold to specialty wine shops and restaurants, and through his eponymously named wine shop in Berkeley, California). The stories and tasting notes in Kermit Lynch's monthly newsletter made me want the wines, and I purchased them regularly and enjoyed them avidly.
When Christine started working part-time for a winery (Talley Vineyards in Arroyo Grande, in their tasting room), I suggested she read 'Adventures on the Wine Route' to get a sense of what made me passionate about wine.
So we started reading the book. Rather, Christine started reading the book, and I started dozing.
Then, just the other evening at dinner (with DAH work mates at Bistro Laurent in Paso Robles) we had an Ah-Ha! moment. Clayhouse winemaker David Frick ordered a couple of different French wines from the list. They both turned out to be Kermit Lynch selections (imported by Kermit), and from places we (well, Christine) had been reading about in his book. Suddenly, the stories of people and places in 'Adventures on the Wine Route' were manifestly connected to bottles of wine we were drinking with dinner.
We felt a bit giddy. It's the feeling of alchemy, when mere matter is made magic. When what you know becomes something you KNOW.
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