corneliessen rose

Holy mother of god this is good. Tart tart, all cherry on the nose, but cranberry, perfume-y, rose-y, a little bitter orange (almost amaro-like) and volcanic soil. Gorgeous wine, I had no idea it would be this good. Cheers to Sicily and Mt. Etna, and to Justin, Zev, and Jeff for bringing it all in.

Double cheers, this just renewed my faith in an extraordinary bottle of wine, after so many so-so's, and a rose especially my goodness. Hoping travel is in my future. I need to taste some dirt.

ballet

What a treat. The most generous customer ever gave me four tickets for the ballet last night. One of the things I love best about the whole thing has been establishing a relationship with this beautiful woman based on wine. Over the last two weeks she has had me put together at least 6 cases of wine for her. There is a huge amount of trust here, and it is one of the things I like to do best. I like to put together a collection of wines that rounds itself out, that is complimentary inside itself, that is complete, but also pushes interest outside of the wines that are included.

And I love to think about how each one will play off of another. I will list them in a next post, as I have to write up wine descriptions, but I love finding the threads of story that are inherent through a really good collection of bottles.

Maybe it makes sense that I just got my Masters degree in Curatorial studies. I am really excited and interested in the interplay between beautiful things, and the live way that they refract off of each other. This experience with her was really something, and a huge challenge.

There was not really a limit on price, she said she just wanted special things-- that were either interesting in some way, or had a story, or that I liked ALOT. I sold her on some Chandon de Brailles and Vega Sicilia 'Valbuena' simply by the tone in which I was describing them,,,, when it turned out we didn't have these in stock, she wouldn't even look at the comparable burgundy and old vintage gorgeous Ardanza. It made me feel better actually, because it made me think about wine much more carefully, and you have to kind of let go control a bit, and let it take on a momentum of its own. List to come soon,, here are some photos from the ballet last night. Thank you Priscilla!

songs that capture an old life, and finding my own voice.

But think about Marfa, and the blackness that surrounded us, and that fact that our house was 1 1/2 blocks from a literal edge of town,,,, Wildness. And we lived in a house full of books. And bird feathers. And birds, cactus, rose bushes, and barn swallow nests surrounded us. And Sam dragged me out of bed every time he heard the pair of owls hunting at night. They would call to each other accross town, to tell what kinds of prey they found.

We watched the male owl in our backyard tree once, at the very top, with a flashlight. It was otherworldly. He was calling, and then he looked right at me, standing barefoot on pine needles. There was a magic there.

So let it be me being an amateur, singing from the heart, but remembering things like tin trays painted in bluebirds, or jars or creosote by the bath, or a wooden case full of birds nests, or Sam doing laundry the first night I was there, so I would have hot, fresh sheets, just in from NYC to San Antonio where I dreamt of a vast green field, to Alpine, TX, to a Marfa home.

God bless that time.

And those songs.

360

"
Happy the moment when the night of separation says, "Good-night"; happy the moment when the springtide light shall give greeting.

Happy the moment when the cloud of divine grace comes in the air, from the cloud you rain pearls of grace on the desert.

This earth, which is thirstier than that black sand, shall swallow the water of life completely and make no dust.

Love has entered upon us with cups and wine; drunkenness has appeared to us from a hidden beloved.

A discourse surged like waves scattering pearls, it is necessary to silence it, since you do not let it pass into here.
"

(Rumi; Mystical Poems 2, tr. by A.J. Arberry)

the fevers

"I give here the recipe for the sizzling fire water. But I fear that our young girls, with their precociously galvanized palates, may find you a little tame...

'Take a half a glass of good strong eau-de-vie (brandy), with a small teaspoon of finely powdered red Cayenne pepper, and six small spoonfuls of white cane sugar. Mix all together until the sugar is properly dissolved and leave to stand for four or five hours. Then one begins to take two teaspoonfulls of this medicine every hour from the time the fever sets in until one has drunk the lot. Before taking this medicine it is necessary to shake it up each time.'

What do I think of it? I'm waiting to have the fevers. Up to now I have only had the fever. I am also waiting til I possess all at one time cane sugar, good brandy, and Cayenne pepper which has lost none of its potency. I accord this last more credit than the spirit. The spirit is an article of faith. But the pepper, the genuine pepper, the lively fire, salutary for the kidneys, trust yourself to it without fear."

(from Colette, Recollections, 199)