Detailbeschreibung

Wachsverschluss der Flaschen leicht beschädigt.

This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy and that hard - that is the wisdom of some smart aleck. But it ain’t quite that straight forward for this here goofball. “This here” means Manfred...somewhat predictably. But I will certainly go at it with a vengeance.

So, then the clock made a somewhat louder click and suddenly it was 2020. That number might suggest extra clarity, but in reality it signified that all hell was going to break loose or, as the saying goes, something was going to hit the fan. None of us knew what that something was, but it smelled of a lot of terroir. Since then we have endured rather restrictive, disheartening, destroying even, “social distancing” (=loneliness), obnoxious times. The mood is still quite somber because nobody knows what the future holds. Luckily, we are in the US of A, where people are industrious and historically not too quick to throw in the towel. But boy oh boy, it does take strong determination and a solid will. Remember – perhaps right now don’t think outside of the box but think of what you can do with the box. Yes, wine always enhances experiences and improves life. Obviously, I am talking about great wine. As such it has been an especially welcome companion for a long while. It fosters conversation, it brings pleasure, it reminds us of all the good and natural things in this world and it lifts the spirit. You may think... “yeah well you sell wine and everyone knows that the big print giveth and the small print taketh it away.” I hope you didn’t think that. It would be sarcasm and sarcasm is anger’s ugly cousin. Plus let me add this: the kids have thought for a while that my job is a bit different from other dads. Perhaps that it’s not even a job...sniffing and tasting all the time. “Why not just do something straight up?” they’d wonder. I told them this story: In the forest there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, “Look at me...I’m tall, and I’m straight, and I’m handsome. Look at you...you’re all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you.” And they grew up in the forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, “Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest.” So, the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, growing stronger and stranger every day.”

Both my beloved and I are more than happy that we might be lumped in with the twisted tree species. And I am doubly happy to have her on my handlebar. She is my whiskey and I am the teacup. We may not look it at first glance, but together we are quite a force to be reckoned with. If I don’t run out of paper, maybe more on that below. Otherwise at another time. That FORCE is also vividly employed to make something for you that can be “helpful” or let’s just say appreciated at any time, but most particularly during this collection of off-the- wall periods we are subjected to. But now let me make your head swing and your taste buds riot by telling you insider treats about the two lovely wines from the 2018 vintage. Another splendid year. Yes, it sounds like a song and dance, but is also the truth.

Let me begin with.... 2018 Syrah SquEezebox... First off, the name hasn’t even been approved yet, but the linoleum cut is made and heck, what could be the issue? But here is the gig. When I was growing up in a tiny town in Austria, I longed for excitement. Music, especially American music, was greatly appreciated by bony M and so I desired a guitar for X-mas. I thought I’d learn to play it and really rock it out and the girls surely would all go nuts. Well X-mas came and the usual sets of socks, beige turtlenecks and all sorts of other stuff I didn’t want, but apparently “needed” with it. We were poor and I was kind of used to that routine. But there was this BIG box too. Unusual in and of itself. The paper was chucked with gusto and then...then...there it was. A darn Accordion! Can you imagine? An ACCORDION! ! It is like wishing for a Ferrari, but you get a snowplow. To say that I was ticked off would be the understatement of the century. But my Dad was not a good negotiating subject and an exchange was out of the question. Incidentally my folks told me they made the switch because I bit my nails like crazy and a squeezebox would be gentler on my fingers. And so I learned the horrid contraption and sure enough we had a little band and I played Honky Tonk Women on the annoyance organ. It did build character I have to say. It has to. No way around that. You know the way Bob Dylan always had a harmonica around his neck when he played the guitar? That’s how I had a kazoo mounted to my musical monstrosity. I am not kidding. In fact, I still have it. Brutally frankly, over time – lots of time – I did end up liking the darn thing in some odd way. Ambrose Bierce said: “an Accordion is an instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin.”

My favorite though, by far, is this nugget: A GENTLE MAN IS A MAN WHO CAN PLAY THE ACCORDION, BUT DOESN’T. That’s sort of me. And now you know that I AM a gentleman too. Nothing squirrelly about the wine though. Lisa Perrotti-Brown just tasted it a few days ago and seemed to enjoy it. Jeb Dunnuck and Antonio Galloni did a few weeks ago. I am sure you get to read up on them soon. The wine is a harmonic team of 82% Syrah, 6.7% Mourvedre, 5.0% Petite Sirah, 2.3% Grenache and 4.0% Whites (2.7% Viognier and 1.3% Muscat).

Fruit is all ESTATE grown and the sources are 51% The Third Twin vineyard, 43% Eleven Confessions vineyard and 6% Cumulus vineyard. My final tasting notes have this: amazingly dark color – and brilliantly radiant too. Quite beautiful just to look at. Super deep, dark berry bouquet with newly decayed forest wood. Stewed blackberries and myrrh are there too. There is a silky mouth with a fanned-out texture and lots of sinew. Big for sure, but beautifully refined. Classic SQN I’d have to say. If Pinot Noir were to do some therapy exercise and get a lot more tone, it’d be like this wine. The longer it sits in the glass, the better it gets. Beautiful. Very – almost unusually – soft and caressing. Despite this wine’s seductive character, we couldn’t leave it at that. Text: Elaine & Manfred Krankl