by Julian Schultz
julian@oxfordwineroom.com

                     

...At a Valentine's Day wine dinner celebrating love... 
...At a cemetery lonely, dark and deep where love had promises to keep...
...At a silent gravesite celebrating love...finding there a Valentine's Day card from a friend...
...At a wedding picture smiling love...a red rose beneath.

These are moments split from time, flung like moons against the heart's dark sky. 

The twilight is cloud covered, dark and gloomy. He walks the cemetery, seeking footsteps over snow to gravesites - searches entire acres of gravesites. None.

He muses: "Do people forget, are reconciled, indifferent; or prefer not to disturb the solitary sleep of loved ones?"

Oh yes, yes! There are foot tracks depressing the snow to one gravesite. He stands before the gravestone and reads the epitaphs: "I love you, sweetheart."

She answers: "And I love you, too, dear."

He remains some 20 minutes, standing over her...where her breasts would be. 
He thanks God for having blessed him with her love for so many, many years.
He thanks God for taking her quickly, for keeping her at home where she was cared for, comforted and loved. 
He thanks God for all the trips to foreign lands that brought her happiness and intellectual adventure.

And he thanks God for her last words: "I have had a good life."

Twilight turns bright and sunny in his mind and he is happy in his remembrance as he waves her goodbye - for her sweet love remembered such wealth brings that he would scorn to change his state with kings: He paraphrases last lines from her favorite Shakespeare sonnet.

He departs the cemetery, still searching footsteps in the snow as he slowly drives away. No place. Sad. Time with forget.

Five minutes later I am at the Webster House to attend again love day: Valentine's Day wine dinner, its food subtly infused with chocolate. Yes, I was here alone now, and my love was celebrated in varied ways.

I was circulating among 40-plus chocoholics, oenophiles and gourmets, relishing in the anticipation of repeating the trial dinner of a month earlier. The reception cheese varieties, fruit, crackers and sparkling wine were perfection. I was comfortable, relaxed.

Oh-oh! Was that Melancholy Mollie over there who plagued me at last year's Valentine's Day dinner? Yeah, it was. I hoped she wouldn't sit at our table again. 

Mollie and I grew up in the Granite Street area and we rode the bus to high school. Her personality was a down beat dirge that voiced doom, gloom, sorrow, sadness, negativism. On this particular night, fresh from the cemetery, I didn't need that.

"I know that empty seat by your side is your romantic emotional futile gesture of devotion to Lillian," she said, as she plopped her rounded Rubens-esque posterior into the chair.

"So why do you occupy her chair, knowing that?" I replied with controlled civility.

"Because it is about time you stopped wallowing in misery, persisting as you do by holding on to that which is no longer there...and never will be there!" she said grimly.

"It's the spirit of the thing," I said. "This is a Valentine's Day wine dinner, an expression of love. Look around at all the twosomes here; they salute and celebrate their love as a splendiferous blessing. Too bad your virginal life has been bereft of that blessing. Humph! An old maiden pure!" I couldn't resist skewering her with that last statement.

"Whoa! A maiden pure? My eye! I...had...been...wed...twice. -- Oh, that sonofabitch cheating first husband bastard! -- So I know what it is to sit across a table, wide-eyed naïve, in youthful love, having our hands entwine. Oh, I know it well, my afflicted Julian of adolescent sentimentality. I know it well: It once was mine. But I refuse to be a melancholy dame chained to the past."

"If you were Hamlet, you would be the melancholy Dane confounding everyone." I answered.

"The Hamlet remark is apropos of nothing, except your trying to impress me that you are versed in Shakespeare...Oh, here comes the appetizer course. Why don't you cease your bickering and let's eat. 

"Umm, that Albarino white wine is surprisingly OK - better than I would expect of a lowly Spanish white wine. Spanish white wines taste as if they had suffered through the torturous Spanish Inquisition. Anyway, we can talk later. Perhaps I may enlighten you about my second husband, about my having loved and lost...A virgin maid, indeed!"

The dinner: The spirit of Valentine's Day among the couples who were dedicated to love was obvious. As Melancholy Mollie said: I knew the feeling. I knew it well. It once was mine.

I gravitated to both sides of the room, where at one table were jumbo red ripe sweet juicy strawberries, sweet tender cut kiwi, sweet orange slices, giant green and purple grapes, imported delicious Swiss cheese, sharp and mild Cheddar cheese, and crisp crackers. At the other side of the room was the variety of wines that would be poured -- the whites on iced water, the reds upright with labels facing us. 

Premier waitstaff of Sean Maynard and Debby Burns poured and served the sparkling reception wine of Gramona Gran Cuvee Cava sparking wine from Spain 2001, $14.99, at O'Hara's Discount Liquors. (All prices reflect the wine shop's 20% discount.)

Sipping from appropriately configured sparkling wine glasses, we enjoyed the bubbly made by the labor-intensive Methode Champenoise method. The sweet-edged, crisp, clean, rich, full, refreshing wine of pinpoint sparkle and layered melon/apple/lemon and citrus flavors was delightfully harmonious with the reception hors d'oeuvres.

Appropriately poured before the scallop salad was served was Pazo de Senorans Albarino white wine from Spain 2003, $17.59. The pairing of the seared sea scallops on mesclun wild salad greens (sorrel, lamb's lettuce, chervil, others) with shaved white chocolate in a creamy balsamic reduction was perfection with the slightly earthy, metallic, sweet-edged apple, peach, melon, grassy, vanilla flavors of the crisp Albarino. Hey, even negative Mollie didn't vocally sneer at the combination. 

First surprise wine of the evening: LeParadou Cotes du Luberon from Southern France 2003, $7.99, 80 percent Grenache grape, 20 Syrah, was loaded with fruit of plum, blueberries and blackberries, augmented with varied spices, balancing fruit acids and tannin and with a smooth-textured finish. It accompanied the thick Mexican beef soup of rich but shy chocolate, and orange zest, cumin, chili powder, rice, and tomato. 

The pairing was superb; murmurs of delight echoed throughout the room. I ordered the wine, which I don't need but I found irresistible. Had it a Classified Growth designation, I would not have thought to question it. A few more years in the bottle or even an hour in the glass before sipping...Ah, Webster House is Paradise now!

Mollie turned to me: "I may decide to like this wine - soft with accented fruit. I think your beloved, departed Lillian would have enjoyed it." She knew I did not wish to discuss Lillian this evening. What perversity in this woman!

"No, and please no more reference to Lillian. She would have declined to taste it but would have said, 'Oh give me the kisses of your mouth, for your love is more delightful than wine.' "

To my surprise, Mollie dabbed her eyes with her napkin. "You have so much to be thankful for, for having had such a loving relationship. I wish -- "

I held up my hand for her to say no more. "Please, Mollie, I don't wish to cry anymore." I felt my lips trembling and my eyes tearing.

Mollie patted my shoulder sympathetically, saying she would tell me of her experience with heartbreak. OK, anything but having her allude to Lillian. I know she meant well, expecting to offer comfort, but she only released the still raw emotion in me.

She continued: "Husband number one - the rat - seduced me with the con artist's razzle dazzle, the old flim flam double whammy. I was 21 and as naïve as new born babe. Anyway, I laid out the sex rules of our marriage: three times a week, first year; twice, second year; once, third year and on. That was reasonable don't you think?

"All he said was, 'Can you afford it?' and laughed. Well, I found out he was cheatin' with a massage parlor broad - that sonofabitch! So I dumped him. Do you blame me?"

I avoided answering her question, but asked: "Should I ask if you set sex rules for your second husband?"

"Don't ask and I won't tell," she said laughing. My second husband, Mitchell, the love of my life, was everything that first bastard wasn't...Oh, they are pouring for the shrimp course. I'll tell you later about my wonderful Mitchell."

Second course: Three jumbo coconut-crusted shrimp, with white chocolate and orange dipping sauce and wild rice primavera, was paired with Tour de Monestier Bergerac Blanc from Bordeaux 2003, $7.99. A blend of 50 percent Semillon, 30 Sauvignon Blanc and 20 Muscadelle with flavors of citrus, grass, lemon, pineapple, orange rind and hint of white flowers, the Monestier was superb with the shrimp - the shrimp, a masterpiece of delectable, tender, unique complex tastes! I rated the wine 125/100 for price value, "a must buy."

Forgetting that discretion is the better part of seeking opinion from Mollie, I asked for her evaluation of the course.

"Oh, (airily) I can take it or leave it. Well, I'm content to take it, but with subdued judgment, albeit positive, I suppose. And I'm not about to imitate the way you are continuously gurgling and murmuring over it, which is nearly nauseating."

Third course: All hands were pouring: Geoff Ghertler, Chris, Debby, Sean, and Baron Ziegler. (Ziegler, representing the importer, also enlightened and entertained us as he discussed the wines.) Two red wines streamed down to our glasses, glowing with luminous red robes. I quickly took single sips of each and immediately ordered both for my cellar:

Masia M Roussillon Red Wine from France 2003, big-bodied Rhone wine, 50 percent each of Grenache and Carignane, $8.79, offered everything, was immediately accessible with soft aromatic aromas and soft rich fruit and intermingled flavors: briary, licorice, spice, cherries, blackberries, leather, earth. Magnificently balanced with fruit acids and firm tannin, smooth warm swallow and extended aftertaste, it generated applause for Baron who had just finished discussing the wine. Yes, I rated it 150/100 for price value.

Les Alcusses from France 2002, $14.99, a big complex Mourvedre wine with no oak aging but loaded with fruit, spice and everything nice - like chocolate, cedar, vanilla, blackberries, cherries. Just a lush luscious rich wine with ripe aromas and flavors. For me, and agreed to by Dr. Bob Ouellette, it was the outstanding wine of the dinner among the other premium quality wines.

While we waited for the paired food of pan seared flat slice of veal fillet covered with veal glaze and chocolate sauce and Meyer dark rum, accompanied by duchess potato and grilled fresh vegetables, Mollie chose to enlighten me about her second husband:

"This may help, Julian," she said. "I have been through it, too - to have loved and lost a loved one. I was married to the most wonderful man in the world. He was so kind, so giving, so handsome; he was perpetual sunshine. We were married a brief five months when he was killed in a car crash. A state trooper was chasing a drunk. The drunk's car plowed in Mitchell's car. He was killed.

"I was 24, had just finished graduate school. Mitchell had an MBA from Columbia and was working on Wall St. Our life together was a dream come reality.

"My whole world came tumbling around me. I never imagined despair could be so devastating -- as if my heart were ripped from my body...So, Julian, don't feel that you are unique in your loss of Lillian, and don't continue to feel sorry for yourself or subconsciously want people to feel sorry for you, which is what most bereaved people do, and as I did."

She grimaced and dabbed her eyes as she finished; her face clouded in melancholy, she solemnly studied the platter of veal before fork cutting into it. "Very tender and deliciously tasty but too chocolate-y. I guess right now I'm not in the sweet chocolate mood."

Dr. Bob leaned over her as he addressed me: "Too much chocolate; a little more restraint and it would match better with the hearty fruit and tannic flavors of these big wines. It isn't what we tasted at the trial -----"

Mollie, wailing: "See, he hates it, he hates it! He agrees with me."

"Oh, come on Mollie," I protested, "he doesn't 'he hates it, he hates it!' He's just expressing the need for moderation, restraint, with the chocolate."

"He hates! He hates! I heard!" Mollie, wailing, was adamant. I shushed her so that we could sip the wines with the delicious veal in peace and with pleasure. 

We were well surfeited now from generous refills of the wines and from sumptuous portions of the food, judging from the scraped clean plates and take home food containers. But we all had room for Helena Liazos' expectedly delectable dessert: rich dark chocolate truffle cake with rich gooey chocolate truffle filling and maraschino cherry decoration. As usual, we were not disappointed.

Ah, I thought, dining doesn't get any better than this. And love this evening was celebrated in varied ways.

As we were leaving, Mollie called after me, still wailing, "He hates it! He hates it!"

I couldn't get away fast enough.


Wine Pick: Trinchero Winery Napa Reserve Vista Montone Pinot Noir 2003, $25. Hey, this is no "pinot no-where" wine! Here is a plush and layered black cherry/cola nose accented with varied spice. Balanced fruit acids and smooth tannin support rich flavors of plum and black cherrys. Silky swallow and forget-me-not aftertaste culminate in most worthy wine, well worth the price.

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julian@oxfordwineroom.com