God made man -

Frail as a bubble;

God made love -

Love made trouble,

God made the vine -

Was it a sin

That man made wine

To drown trouble in?

- Anonymous, Wine and War, Don and Petie Kladstrup

 

I don’t have a great deal of troubles to drown in wine, but I liked the poem.  If I did have troubles though, I would have many interesting wines to drown them in, especially after this past weekend.  So here’s the story.

Thursday afternoon I pointed the car north and headed out to the Olympic Peninsula, where my sister, Danacia, and her husband and son, Mark and Luke, were already vacationing in Mark’s grandparents cabin on Treasure Island in Hood Canal.  It’s very peaceful out there, with little to do other than go for walks & bike rides, dig clams and oysters, read & nap, and take boat rides around the Puget Sound.  We did all of those things and it was really relaxing and enjoyable.  I even brought home the (in my opinion) best Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand to have with the clams that I knew would be in abundance, and brought along the always lovely Amycus from Brooks to go with the oysters.  It was great to spend so much time with my nephew Luke, who I’ve seen far too little of in recent months, and who changes a vast amount everytime I go away and travel.  

Luke is totally punk rock and doesn’t even know it or care

Always adventurous, but now that he’s 2 1/2 he has moved on to eating clams and oysters and driving a boat

Yeah, they’re probably the cutest little family ever

And more gorgeous sunset photos, of course!

Grown-ups playing in the dirt, and kids playing in the dirt… 

D and Mark digging for clams

                   

Ava and Luke engaged in shady toddler activities, like dumping rocks on their heads

              

The real shocker of the weekend came on Friday morning.  I was out for a run around the island and noticed a garage sale at one of the homes.  I glanced at the items for sale as I was running by and spied a table containing wine - it seems the owners of the home were retiring to Arizona and needed to get rid of their belongings.  Ever curious about what’s out there in the way of wine, I stopped to take a peek.  At first I saw just what I expected to see - various fruit wines, sparklings from California and Italy and a few uninteresting looking California “Burgundies”.  However, I did notice that on average, most of the wines were 15 - 25 years old.  I commented on this and the man running the sale said, “Yeah, I sold most of the stuff from the 60’s this morning”.  “Hang on there” - I thought - “the 60’s?  What on earth did he already sell?  What did he still have stashed?”  So I asked with a great deal of nonchalance, “Do you have any other bottles that you’re planning on putting out?”  Looking entirely annoyed at having to get out of his chair the man shuffled to the back of his garage and beckoned for me to follow.  “You can look through these boxes, if you want”, he offered. 

I thanked him and dug in.  The first bottle I pulled out almost visibly made my jaw drop - but I checked it in time.  I was holding in my hands an obviously old bottle of Moet and Chandon, Champagne from one of the most well known producers in Epernay France.  And we all know how much I loved Epernay. 

There is no vintage printed on the bottle, so I inspected it for clues as to the age.  Written in the fine, scrawly handwriting that all women who went to school in the 1930’s and 1940’s seem to have it said, “Won at New Years, 1969″.  So the bottle was presumably older than 1969.  Closer inspection revealed only a small number typed on the label, 51.02.13. 

I’m not sure if it was customary for a wine producer to put the date in that format when they labeled it, or if that’s a serial number of some sort.   I’ve tried researching this question online and still cannot find any answers; I also can’t find any values if this is a 1951 or if it’s a 1968 - the two dates I think it may be.  In either case, I’d like to find out - so if anyone reads this and knows how I can identify the vintage please let me know!

After that find I was all amped up to search some more, but the fella running the sale was running out of patience.  I told him I would hurry home and come back with my car and some cash, and asked him to set aside a few bottles for me.  I cleverly (in my opinion), put the Moet along with a few non-notable wines like it was just another Joe Schmoe wine that he didn’t need to be concerned about selling for a higher price.

After coming back I saw that he was opening the final box and a few old people were poking about the table.  I went over there and started pulling the wines out and almost immediately again felt like someone had just punched me in the stomach; I literally felt like I was going to throw up.  I was holding in my hands a 375ml bottle of 1970 Chateau Lafite Rothschild  from Bordeaux, France.  Chateau Lafite Rothschild is one of the oldest Chateau in Bordeaux with the majority of the vineyard being planted in 1680.  It was also one of only four wineries to achieve “First Growth” status in the 1855 classification.  I couldn’t believe what I was holding.

What added to my excitement a bit is the fact that I’ve been reading a book called Wine and War by Don and Petie Kladstrup.  It’s about how during WWII the French winemakers did what they could to defy, resist and sabotage the Nazi’s efforts to take the wines of France.  Both of these wineries were mentioned in the book, in pretty detailed accounts, so I have them on the mind and have a greater affinity for them as well (I love WWII and WWI history and adore reading about wine). 

 So I bought those two bottles, along with a few others that intrigued me; a 1983 dry Riesling from Ste. Chapelle Vineyards in Idaho, the first vineyard established in Idaho after prohibition.  I adore Rieslings, and am always keen on trying older vintages so I’m looking forward to seeing what 25 years has done to this one.  I also picked up a 1981 Cava from Spain, an older Asti Spumanti, and a 1978 “Burgundy” from California - I’m curious to see what Pinot from Cali tastes like after 30 years.

How much did I pay per bottle?  

$3

That’s right - $3 for each bottle, including the Lafite Rothschild and the Moet and Chandon.  I felt like a criminal - but it didn’t stop me from going ahead and making the purchase.  I had to assume that he knew what he had and just didn’t care.

I also purchased an extremely cute cruiser bike from 1960’s England. 

So Treasure Island will always feel like a little pocket of treasure to me.  I can’t believe those findings - I’m still curious about the other bottles from the 1960’s that I didn’t see.  If I find out more about either of the two rare wines, I’ll post about it. 

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 7:54 pm and is filed under Pacific Northwest, Posts by Bri, U.S.A., Wine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.