UGH: The Deanster.

I swore I'd never again write about The Deanster, certain at least I if not everyone else had read ENOUGH ALREADY about this guy.  When he came last month I held true and silent. But then Dean did something that I thought was really cool. So here we are.

When Dean comes into town, he spends a lot of time at The Cave.  We tie a cute little kerchief around his neck and refer to him as The Cave mascot. He does this because in Indiana he doesn't get to share wine things with too many people.  Here, he can. People walk in, discussions occur, it makes Dean happy.

This week, a lovely intersection occurred. Dean and another Cave gentleman got into a very long conversation about wine things. I didn't really see what came of that, but I did see Dean writing on a cork and I got very curious about that.  He was writing the gentleman's name, and the date. He keeps the cork; he keeps who he shared the moment with, and with which wine.

And I DIG that idea.

So today I interviewed Dean about it.

"Did you get the date?  Make sure you get the date."

How long have you been doing the cork thing?
Shit...30-plus years. A long time.

Is it an original idea, or is this some kind of wine tradition?
No, I just started doing it.  I don't know if anyone else does.  I'm sure they do.  They collect corks.  They usually write on the bottles.  I see that alot.  They keep the bottle.  But corks are smaller.

How many corks do you have?
Maybe 100. I don't know where they are, how's that.

Then why do you do it?
Because it reminds me, whenever I see those things, who I was with.  It's 100 % at a restaurant.  I have the date and who I was with.

(At this point, after some deep confusion on my part, it was finally established some of the older corks are MIA, but recent corks still exist and are revisited.)

Do you do it if the wine is special or the person is special?
When the occasion is special.  You're not going to keep Two-buck Chuck.

You've never kept a cork from wine you and I shared.
It's your wine usually.  I won't take a cork if it's somebody else's wine.

Also, Dean's guitar made it's Cave debut.