Vintage Story

Epistemological epiphany:
Life must be lived forwards,
but can only be understood backwards
Mercifully, life may be enjoyed sideways!

CELEBRATORY WINES            

            The Pontiff has long maintained that one shouldn’t have “favorite” wines. It tends to cause one to shun other wines or to establish biases against them. It could even encourage a kind of wine snobbism. That said, both the Story Innkeeper and the Pontiff have birthdays in August, a month badly in need of a holiday or something to celebrate, so the August wine dinner at the Story Inn scheduled for the 24^th will feature--OK, you guessed it--some of Rick and Ole’s favorite food and drink.

            No, there won’t be a 1970 Chateau Latour or a 1963 Dow’s Port, both representative of most memorable wines in our experience, but there will be a sampling of types and varieties especially pleasing to these hospitable palates.

            There is yet another reason not to become too attached to a particular wine or wines. Availability. In Indiana we consumers must buy our wines from a retailer, and there is no assurance that an area retailer will stock the wine we most desire. Even if we’ve bought it there before. The wholesaler may have sold it out or declined to offer it to the retailer in question. Or the vintage year has sold out and the current vintage isn’t the equal of the one we remember.

            In short, a legislated monopoly is a very big determinant in what becomes our wines of choice. A chef in a seafood restaurant may correctly say his daily special depends on what his suppliers net on that day. Similarly, a wine steward is dependent on what his supplier decides to offer him on any given day. The difference between the two is that the chef is subject to natural or seasonal supply, the wine steward to the dictates of state law and wholesaler discretion. If Fruit of the Loom is out of T-shirts, you can always go to Jockey.  Not so for wines.

            So on the 24^th, we will endeavor to provide interesting wines based on market availability. And, by the way, next time you read about ranked wines in the WINE SPECTATOR or the WINE ENTHUSIAST, rush off to your nearest retailer to see how many of them are available in your market place. You may be surprised at how few are really there.

            As a birthday gift to the subscribers of this fine e-missive, the Pontiff hereby bestows free membership in Vinsense, Inc., a not-for-profit consumer group dedicated to opening up the Hoosier wine market.  The Internet will change the way we buy wine in Indiana as inexorably as market forces brought down the Berlin Wall.  You will receive free updates of important legislation affecting the sale of this commodity in Indiana, at no cost or obligation.  You may learn more, or volunteer your services, by visiting www.vinsense.org. 

            Zum Wohl, and welcome aboard!   

    Vintage Story is an e-newsletter authored by Ole Olson and published by the Story Inn, and is available free of charge to all who appreciate good wine. Vintage Story is published at each full moon. The author and the Story Inn specifically authorize the republication, reprinting and circulation of any issue Vintage Story so long as due credit is given to the author and to the Story Inn (which holds the copyright).

If any newspaper or website desires to make use of any issue of Vintage Story, we do request that you notify us. Thanks, and here's to your health!