Whatever Pulls Your Strings

Found myself in a rather rare situation last night, alone in the house, no plans, no place to be, decidedly “over” the internet and the trolling I find myself doing there, way too often, a bottle of cheap but refreshing white wine and a remote control. Seeing as I have seen every Investigative Reports and Law & Order, multiple times over, now that the kid is back I tend to leave the television viewing to the guys, aside from my Jersey Housewives, (Oh My Gawd, already in Part II of the reunion shows and the drama let me tell you!) of course but here I was scrolling through like a thousand channels with my thumb poised to select whatever I wished without even the slightest sigh or fear that I’d be the one sending someone else to their laptop. Rare indeed.

Went right to the good stuff, and no, not porn…..that’s what laptops are for, went to the movie channels. Up and down, over a half an hour and back my eyes scanning titles waiting for something to peak my interest and stimulate my desire. One would think that with so many options this would be an easy task, and maybe I’m just too picky but Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas wasn’t stimulating anything more than a grunt and eye rolling for me and the longer I fondled the remote the more I thought I had figured out why everyone in this damn town has a medical use card for weed, they have to be giving those things out with your fifth purchase of movie tickets or something. That and I truly knew what it must feel like to shop at Total Wine and More, thousands of stupid and boring options to choose from, hooray. Ugh! Was seconds from flipping back to Wicked Women Week on the I.D. channel when I landed on The Red Violin, viola. 

Was pretty much captivated from the beginning, love, loss, grief, sex, death, music, history, intrigue all with breathtaking sets and costumes. Stuffed my pudgy legs under my chunky ass, unscrewed the top on my little white wine and nuzzled in. Now I don’t want to be any kind of spoiler for those that haven’t seen the film, (and really if you haven’t, drop that bong and get on it) but the overwhelming theme that I walked away with, passion. Passion for love, sex, music and in the end the somewhat murky and unsightly passion for possessing something so rare that most people will never even get to see it, regardless of if you understand it or not. Poured the last little bits of my tremendously pleasing $10 white wine in my glass as the movie came to end, sealing up all the loose ends and uncovered the last bit of drama and passion that made that instrument what it was, (which I had figured out like way earlier, thank you I.D. channel) love and real passion winning out over greed and procurement, couldn’t help but think of this business of ours and the people that buy, make and sell wine…and why. 

My head kind of swimming with pictures of people that shop at The Wine Country, come in a couple times of week seeking pleasure whether it be in the form of procurement or, as was the case with me last night, looking for a bottle of something enchanting to make them feel tingly while nuzzled into their evening. The name-dropping, score chasing customer that “threw me a bone” and picked up a bottle of some unread about red from the Loire Valley I’d tried to get him to try for years, the desperate phone call I got months later, after he finally popped the cork, Clos Rougeard powerfully playing that customer’s strings, him begging me to try and help him find more. Listening to the words of a somewhat appalled customer as he shared a story with me about being with a very serious wine collector who was popping corks on current release first growth Bordeaux and super-rare California Cabernets, dumping them right into the glass and tossing it back like it were Crown Royal, no decanting, no nothing. Just a showing of the bottle and a splash in his gullet. Watching the irate violin collector, the one that had played the red violin and deemed it, “Nothing special” now furious that the rare gem was not going to be his…my lips pressed against the rim of my glass, mouth and soul open for the final splash, heart slightly pounding as I devoured my last sip. 

Passion man, it’s a funny business and in wine, the scope is broad and full of opinions. I don’t flip over DRC, Dom Perignon, first growth Bordeaux or super cuvees from Chateauneuf-du-Pape, matter of fact I tend to find those wines a bit over-the-top and garish, and seeing as I don’t get my rocks off simply owning something rare, well I can happily leave those wines to the people that do. My passion no more profound or important than theirs, just different, and that right there, is pretty fucking cool. I am a fan of passion, fuck, the more the better if you ask me and I’m not about to sneer or smugly sip my little Loire wines and act as if I know something the Scarecrow vertical guy doesn’t, we are both getting off on wine, for whatever reason and I dig the hell out of that.