Life 2.1

Rarely do I blog about work because, truly, I like to keep my personal life and my professional one separate but since work today included being able to cross something off My Bucket List, I figured it was acceptable to share.

I drank this today. Please refer to #5 on my (albeit small) Life-long Bucket List.

A wine so special they count bottles produced, not cases. I drank from bottle #09513.

That’s right. I got to drink my DRC (2001 vintage). And not just a sip but a whole TASTE! It was such a treat.

It was delicate, more orange-red than purple-red, showing some signs of how nicely it had aged. The flavors swirled together in my glass, none of which were overpowering the other. There were slight notes of clean minerality, paired with hints of rhubarb, red berry…sigh. It sure put my coffee to shame at 9:30 this morning!

I learned about DRC when I first began work at the distributor in New Orleans. It was my first couple days and my boss told me to go through the portfolio and select some wines that I was not familiar with from some of our largest suppliers and sample them out so I would know what I was selling. I put DRC down on my sample request and was promptly laughed out of the building for even trying to requisition out a bottle of wine that went for more than my whole paycheck. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti has a handful of grand cru vineyards, with grand cru being the premiere level of vineyard in Burgundy, France. Of their grand crus, there is one in Puligny Chassagne, six in Vosne-Romanée (one of which is the Grands Echézeaux) and three in the Aloxe-Corton region.

So, back to what I was saying.

Later that year at the distributor, when the DRC allotment came in, one of my customers had pre-ordered a bottle (which was awesome, since I was on full commission.) In order to receive said bottle, I had to hand deliver it to the customer. No big deal. But when I went to pick it up, handling it came with strict instructions.

I was to head to the warehouse, leave my car running with the air conditioner blasting, then ask the warehouse staff to take me in the golf cart to the back “cold room” where this heralded wine was kept. Then I had to take the wooden box in which the wine was to be delivered and buckle it with a seat belt. Once I arrived at my account, the customer signed for it and I was safe.

The particular wine we tasted today is so highly coveted they are numbered.

Cheers Bottle #9513, you made my day.

No Comments | In: Living the Vine Life, Pulled Corks, Social Adventures | tags: Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands Echézeaux 2001, wine. | #

I had arrived on Thursday night and Dave took me for pizza. Long Island has not shortage of delis or pizza places with Italian names all claiming the Island’s best pizza. Friday was spent around his hometown of Northport and Saturday was New Year’s Eve, which was spent in Queens with his friends from high school (all of whom were lovely and hilarious and fun). We lounged New Year’s Day. He got bagels for breakfast brunch from one his favorite places and we walked from his parents’ house to the beach, where it was brisk, but nice. We visited the North Fork for wine tasting on Tuesday, where we ended up bringing back 14 or so bottles. I fell asleep in the car. Dave found it hilarious to take a picture of my with my head back, completely knocked out, with my mouth open. It was not one of my more flattering pictures but it brings him immeasurable entertainment. I will delete it off his phone when he isn’t looking.

We made it home in time to watch the Oregon Ducks emerge as Rose Bowl Champions. Fantastic. Tuesday was the day to go to NYC. I could give you a play-by-play of the trip into NYC but the visual tour just does it so much more justice. (click to enlarge)

I hadn’t seen the Statue of Liberty up close. In all the times I have visited NYC. Mental note: Winter is not the time to do it. It was so cold that tears were literally drawn from my eyes by the biting wind.

South Street Seaport. More importantly, the point at which I begin to feel my ears again

South Street Seaport was downright balmy compared to Battery Park

So much warmer here. If 40ish degrees is considered warm.

The most amazing display of all edible Italian things. Following the traumatic cold at Battery Park, Dave took me to Eataly where we were amazing/overwhelmed at the marketplace and cafe(s) of Eataly. Go there. It’s awesome.

I was dying to see this tree. I was unimpressed. So much space between those branches! And colored lights aren’t my favorite. But I still like this photo, which comes complete with protestors in the background.

Heading to a subway station on the way home, I subjected Dave to taking photos next to pretty things like this fountain, which we are blocking. But trust me. It was pretty. Pretty and cold.

We shopped on Wednesday and I got a taste of some Long Island culture when a mother of two began yelling (in a voice not unlike that of Janice from “Friends”) at her young son for pushing his younger brother in a stroller while she was busy in J Crew. Later, another woman who donned bleached white hair, a faux fur wrap, serious raccoon eyes and enough gold jewelry to retire thanks to cash4gold.com, was wearing so much perfume, I had a sneezing fit. My eyes began to swell and it was all down hill. We left and I went home and napped. Then took a long steaming shower to remove that horrific scent from my nasal cavities. Long Island Mall: 1, Colleen: 0.

Thursday I had sushi. Kind of. I had bites of Dave’s tuna because the seaweed brings back awful flashbacks from college where we had 3 rice cookers (one of which was branded with Hello Kitty) and a constant supply of dried seaweed and kimchee. I actually ordered the teriyaki chicken because I wasn’t feeling adventurous. But his tuna roll thing was tasty. We spent the evening on our last full day in Queens again, having dinner with Eric and Maria. Maria is Irish and her accent is fairly awesome. The 4 of us laughed, drank wine and indulged in what we all agreed were calories that don’t count since we were on vacation. I really enjoyed having dinner with the two of them (our hosts from NYE) and I’m glad Dave got to spend some time with them too.

Friday was spent in the air before we landed in SFO. Vacation was officially over 12 hours later when I was back at work but at least I had a full week to unplug and unwind.

It was fantastic.

No Comments | In: Social Adventures | tags: New York, vacation. | #

I love Dave’s hometown. We walked around the village yesterday, down to the dock. It was sunny and 50 degrees (in New York. In late December.) Fabulous.

No Comments | In: Social Adventures, Thoughts & Ponderings | tags: New York, Northport, vacation. | #

At least it was three weeks ago when I went there! Three weeks to get a blog post up {shaking my head in disgust}. Yowsers.

Being that September and October are the busiest months for both Dave and me (and with Harvest 2011 being so late, we might as well throw the first couple weeks of November in there too) we made a point to make the most of our intermittent days off.

That said, we took a day trip to the beach on a random Tuesday almost a month ago. We went to Whole Foods in the morning to stock up on picnic-y things like fruit, baguettes, cheeses, marcona almonds and scharffen berger chocolate, because neither of us have any willpower when it comes to chocolate. We picked up a bottle of wine and it was then we realized we forgot wine glasses. Whole Foods didn’t have any disposable ones, so we may or may not have taken plastic cups from the olive bar at Whole Foods to be used as wine glasses. Mostly because we’re classy like that.

Uber Classy Wine Glasses

We drove to Bolinas, bundled up of course, because it is a Northern California beach, after all, and enjoyed our picnic. We threw tennis balls for the handful of dogs whose owners had long since gotten bored of the throw-fetch-repeat routine. Then we realized the dogs were more interested in sniffing around our picnic than fetching so that ended that game.

A gray day at the beach didn’t bother us one bit

We continued our drive until we hit Hog Island Oyster Company, where we stopped on the way home to pick up dinner. (Delicious.)

picking up dinner

It was the best random Tuesday I’ve ever had.

2 Comments | In: Social Adventures | tags: beach. | #

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine from high school, whose music I have always enjoyed, told me his bad was releasing a new album and asked if I would take a listen.

Flattered, I received an email with the latest releases from Uncle Daddy and a little while later and began listening to the new album Psalms Before The Storm. I have played the handful of songs over and over again, determining my favorites. Bless his heart, he told me it was ok if I didn’t like it, though I knew that wouldn’t be the case. I know Noah to be a heart-felt musician, putting all of himself into his music and no doubt he wouldn’t align himself with bandmates that wouldn’t do the same.

Now, let’s be clear. I’m no music critic. I just know what I like. And I really like their first single ‘Fade Away’ which I’m sharing here:

Again, I don’t even know music terms that well but the baseline/intro pulls me and I knew I would like this song from the get go. The guitar-that-builds-to-drums-that opens up into the rest of the instruments coming in to contribute to the sound immediately had me keeping the beat right along. It may sound cheesy, but it’s the type of song that grabs you in the pit of your stomach from the onset and like a home-cooked meal, sticks to your ribs and makes you feel good.

I’m a fan.

Of course, I’m always a sucker for a poignant ballad-y tune so the track ‘Beautiful’ is lovely. The lyrics make me pause and I always love a song that can come up with new ways to describe a person’s admiration for the object of their affection….even more so when the song lyrics recognize the qualities that anyone else might overlook that make the person more endearing to the other.

“She’s beautiful like sunrise but she…she burns like moonshine and I’m feeling just fine, anyway;
She’s soothes like a sunset but she’ll turn your eyes blood red…”

For fun, Noah sent me a download of a Katy Perry cover “E.T.” which is an extremely unique rendition. I almost didn’t recognize it, it was such a departure from the original, but with familiar lyrics.

Over all, I continue to enjoy Noah’s music and the soul that is put into the album. I like the mix of the soulful guitar and deep, resonating baselines. Check out more of their music online at GoUncleDaddy.com and let him know what you think, but I think it’s to be enjoyed, especially because the passion that he and the rest of his bandmates have shines through and how can you not respect the efforts of someone following their passion?

No Comments | In: CL's new beats, Social Adventures | tags: guitar, Music, Noah Needleman, Uncle Daddy. | #