Wednesday, July 4, 2012

july 4.

It's so deeply quiet here I'm not sure I actually exist.

The Cave is closed only two days, Christmas and Thanksgiving.  Open Easter, NewYears...and July 4.  I do this because for a lot of people it's a day off that translates into extra time for getting long put-off errands done.  I figure if I can facilitate that in some small way, why not.  Every holiday I've been open has seen business.  Today may break that streak.

So...anyone hear any good jokes lately? 


Last week The Cave was crazy-busy in a way that everything was happening at once.  It was kind of exciting.  Somewhere in that madness This came my way, 2001 Taft Street Pinot Noir Patassy.  Never heard of it?  Me neither, but I'm a troglodyte.  And being a troglodyte means I get to try things I would never otherwise have access to, obviously because of ignorance, often because of cost,  but also because there are so many wine makers that are list-only distributors, or who are simply very small and eclectic and you simply have to discover them.

California has more than 1200 wineries. There's like 350 in Oregon and over 700 in Washington State.  That's 2250.  What's the drinking age, 21?  On my 21st birthday I drink a bottle of wine a week...I'd be near seventy years old before I got to try one wine from each vineyard!  It's so much easier being a troglodyte.

Oh, right, the wine. 2001, I figured maybe I should open it now, so this was the wine-o-the-weekend. And of course it was very good the first night, the second saw it wane.  But there was a certain rusticness to it that I liked, like it was a straightforward, well-made country wine.  No idea if it is, it just struck me that way.  Nice wine experience.

AND, somebody just came in.  AND, I got a phone call from another guy wondering if I was open. Whew!, that was a close one.