Page 75 of Gone With the Wine

“Don’t beat yourself up about this.”

“I’m not.” His mouth is a thin line.

I gaze at him. He says nothing. “Yes, you are,” I say gently. “Don’t do that. There are going to be ups and downs. Successes and failures.”

He looks away, then shoves a hand into his hair. “Yeah.” He exhales a long breath. “One of my hockey coaches used to tell us, ‘you either win or you learn.’ I always tried to learn when we didn’t win.”

Something spins in my chest, warm and syrupy. “Yeah. That.”

He gives me a reluctant smile. “Thanks.”

I shrug. “You’re the one with the pithy aphorism.”

He barks out a laugh. “Okay.”

I pause, waiting for…something. An invitation? Some kind of overture? Well. “I have to get back to Caparelli. Lots to do on the sauvignon blanc grapes. It looks like a great harvest. The Brix is exactly where we want it.”

“Go.” He smiles and waves his hands.

I call over my shoulder, “I’ll be back later. I have to finish logging my data and work on the plan for tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Over at Caparelli,I hunt down Jake to talk to him about the grosso grapes. We’ve started harvesting them and I think they’re really good. Not good enough to use on their own, but perfect for blending.

“The warm weather has been good for them,” Jake says.

“Yes. So, what do you think about blending them with the merlot? From my early tasting, it’s very fruity this year.”

He purses his lips. “We often combined merlot with cab sauv.”

“I know. But I want to use the grosso grapes. They’re not common and I think we could have something really unique.”

“Like what?”

“Well, the classic Bordeaux blend is merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, petit verdot, and malbec.”

“Petit verdot doesn’t do well here. It needs more warmth.”

“Right. But I’m thinking of using the grosso instead of it.”

“Ahhhh.”

“It’d be like a New World Old World wine.”

He grins.

“The acidity and tannins from the grosso will add complexity to all the red fruit flavors from the malbec and the spice of the cabernet. The cabernet franc will add luscious aromatics.”

“I like it.”

Yay!

He updates me more about how harvest is going in the various blocks as we walk back to the crush pad. I spend some time there and then head back to the lab at Bar Down.

It’s late. The tasting room is closed, most people have gone home. But Jansen’s in his office with his laptop open, as he often is in the evening.

“I’m back.”

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