Salamandre Wine Cellars Fall 1999 Newsletter

The following are excerpts from the Salamandre Newsletter:

SPECIAL OCCASIONS AND THE GUILLOTINE

After the 1989 earthquake and after the 1982 floods, families from our neighborhood joined us in our house on high ground. Despite the novelty of flickering candlelight and the glow of warming friendships, the roaring water and rattling aftershocks took a toll on our community tranquility. Kissing the yellow-eyed Toad of Fear square on the lips, we declared these days the "special occasion" terminus for some long hoarded wines.

Like a judge in the French Revolution, I descended time after time to the dungeon and called out, "You there, effete aristocrat cowering in the corner! Today's the day, Pierre! Off with your foppish head!" And indeed, we filled the basket with the venerable corks of the Great Chateaux. The mob clamored for more.

We crushed our first grapes of the late 1999 harvest on October 17 after a ceremonial pilgrimage to the epicenter of the 1989 earthquake in neighboring Nisene Marks park. While the pall of smoke from the Big Sur wildfire created an odd heliotrope hue to the morning sky, we all felt oddly secure on this shaky anniversary. Naturally, we celebrated with some 1989 "Temblor," the Carmine that was crushed twice on one afternoon exactly 10 years earlier.

Sara made this design for us. The wine is gone but the memories linger

People have a fascination with round number anniversaries--10, 25, 50, 2000 years-- "special occasions" which deserve deft twists of the wire hood or spiral plunges by the corkscrew. Yet most of these days commemorate some long past event rather than any prideful deeds of the present. The strides we take toward happiness now and the generosity we offer to others, the unheralded sacrifices and unpraised diligence that define the quality of our lives... largely occur on nondescript Tuesdays. These are the real days we should celebrate with good wine. We have some for you.