After 20 years in the wine business and hundreds of tastings and events, I had begun to suspect that nothing new would appear under the sun.
No new questions. . ."How long should I cellar this?" "What percentage of new oak?" "Can I still get some 04 Affinity?". . .etc., etc., etc.
No new answers.
No new outfits. Miami, New Jersey and Los Angeles are the clear winners here, but once you host an event, the shock value wears down for each consecutive visit to the market. No hat is too high; no dress is too low.
No new "wine-loving-couples" at an auction. A five-decade age difference is a common thread with the big bidders. Ho hum.
Then the lightning bolt of true refreshment and surprise arrived at a retail store event in late March in Dallas. While I was pouring the Craig at a Sigel's wine shop, one of our long-time friends of the winery, a Dallas local, stopped by.
Ann Baum is a lovely, petite lady with a fondness for Craig Cabernets. She and her husband Jim had come out to our Cabernet Club Valentine's Candlelight Dinner on Howell Mountain in February, where Jim managed to have a good time despite a bout with food poisoning from the day before. Not only are the Baums great friends, they are tough Texans!
Ann handed over a photograph of her infant son for me to take back to Bob, Lynn and the Craig team in Napa. I filled her glass with the dark, fragrant elixir of Mt. Veeder while glancing at the photo. . .what a beautiful, cherubic young lad!
The wine tasting event was packed to capacity, so I was filling glasses as fast as I could. I thanked Ann for the photo and filled another round of thrust-forward glasses. When the seas parted momentarily, I looked down more carefully at the photograph and finally noticed the name inscribed below the smiling face of Ann and Jim Baum's baby boy.
Robert Craig Baum.
So, Robert Craigheads, the gauntlet as been thrown down by Ann and Jim! Bob, Lynn and the rest of us here at the winery are way excited to follow the progress of little Robert Craig Baum. This will put a spring in my step for at least another decade of wine tastings, thanks to Ann and Jim.
That's it from the road, Elton
Comments