Simon Pearce

A year ago this month, my friend Lynne and I took a vacation to Vermont. We went with the intention of running a half-marathon, and then seeing what sights there were to see before/after the race.

One day, we were taking a drive, and if memory serves, we had gotten lost or perhaps had to turn back from somewhere due to weather; I can't quite remember, other than, we happened to stop at a covered bridge, got out of the car to take some pictures, and a local lady walked by with her dog. She stopped to say hello and recommended that we check out the glass factory that was right around the corner.

That turned out to be Simon Pearce. We wandered through this store for hours, looking at the gorgeous handblown glasswares and hand-fired ceramics. The stuff wasn't cheap but it was quality. I purchased a small glass Christmas ornament (a) it was one of the few things in my price range, and b) I was inspired after watching the artist in the glass blowing studio for a good while. The studio was open to the public and we watched this man make glass Christmas tree after glass Christmas tree, handling molten hot liquid glass, turning and heating and cooling and turning until, one after the other, they turned into perfect glass Christmas trees.

Part of the way through the process he asked if we had any questions. He had been doing this for so long it was like second nature to him. He fielded our questions without missing a beat. It was fascinating to watch him work, one headphone in his ear as he listened to music while talking to us at the same time while never missing a beat as he worked the glass. It was awesome, in the truest sense of the word, to watch true artistry and craftsmanship at work.

Fast forward to today. Lynne is back in Vermont, eating dinner at the restaraunt associated with Simon Pearce as I write this blog entry. She was able to return with her husband this year, and is introducing him to Simon Pearce. 

For Mother's Day, Lynne's two sons bought her a wine stopper from Simon Pearce. That got me thinking, because her birthday was a week later. Lynne and I have gone to many a wine tasting, including one day long wine trip hosted by the local community college on the day I was supposed to have graduated from grad school. I didn't graduate initially as planned but still wanted to do something to mark the day, so etching positive to show myself that my struggles with school had not gotten the best of me. And so I have many find memories of wine tastings with Lynne, including our experience at Simon Pearce. It just made good sense that I would look to that store for her birthday present. 

I ended up selecting a perfect, beautiful wine glass.

I had it shipped in a fabulous gray box with a box. I also may have bought one for myself, only mine is a red wine glass. Lynne's is for white. The glass is much taller, heavier, and more substantial than I expected. It is an object of great craftsmanship and that conveys the best of our friendship. And, in a beautiful act of symmetry, tonight Lynne texted me that she is enjoying a lovely class of Simon oearce's house Chardonnay in a hand crafted goblet in Queechee, Vermont, smiling and thinking back in our memories there together. 

Brunello and my dad

My dad's favorite wine was Brunello di Montalcino. That's not a specific wine; rather it refers to dry red wines made from sangiovase grapes in the Montalcino region of Italy. My family is Italian, and dad liked a nice dry Italian red.

He and a friend of his made a pact: If my dad died first, he would leave his friend a case of the friend's favorite wine (Dom Perignon champagne). If my dad's friend died first, he would leave my dad a case of Brunello.

I was always curious about Brunello because it wasn't until after my dad passed away that I even began to develop a taste for dry reds. I do wish that he and I could discuss wines and enjoy them together; it's an interest that we both shared, but at different times in our lives.

I looked into buying a Brunello from time to time, just to try and see what my dad's fuss was about, but those baby's aren't cheap. Brunello tends to start around $80-90 a bottle and they go up from there.

This week, I received an email from my favorite wine shop, advertising a sale on a great Brunello. The description was:

The 1009 Brunello di Montalcino Caparzo is a pretty, impeccably balanced wine to drink over the next decade or so. Sweet red berries, mint, tobacco, licorice and rose petals are woven into the attractive, layered finish. 

It really was a bargain, at $35 a bottle. That was a price point I could stomach. I stopped by that shop today and - bonus- the Brunello was open for free tasting! I have not liked sangiovase in the past and so was not expecting to like this wine, but on the first sip I loved it. It's dry, but not too dry, and has the nice balance noted in the description. I quickly bought two bottles, one to open tonight and one to have for later.

While I was tasting it, I got to chatting with the wine guy. He asked what kinds of wine I usually drink, and I said I tend to gravitate toward reds, particularly red blends, plus dry rieslings, roses, and generally not chardonnays. He brightened up when I mentioned rose and asked if I wanted to try a really interesting one. Well, yeah!

He ran to the back and came back out with a rose of a different color. It turns out that most rose is made with red wine grapes and then the skins are left in for a short time (just enough to give the wine that rosy hue) and then removed. This rose was made with white grapes and the skins were left in longer, leaving a sort of orangey color. The flavor was really nice and refreshing, perfect for sipping on a summer's day. I snagged a bottle of that, too.

My conversation with the wine guy was interesting. We both agreed that the best thing about wine is the variety. There are always new wines to try, and it's not just the variety of wines themselves, but everything about enjoying wine changes. You change, your palate changes, the weather changes, which affects what you are in the mood the drink. The wine itself changes over time, or even day to day once you open the bottle.

The ornangey one is on the right.
The one on the left is made with
syrah. On the right, pinot gris.

I left the wine store happy, and thinking of my dad. I wonder if he would have liked today's purchases. I got home and found something unexpected in my mailbox.

I recently changed my name and knew it was only a matter of time before my new last name made it onto mailing lists for various direct mail. Today there was a free issue of my dad's favorite magazine, Cook's, in my mailbox, addressed to me with my new name. It's a complimentary issue along with a push to get me to subscribe. It was an easy sell; gourmet cooking was my dad's hobby, and he would rave about this magazine because the writers test each recipe and then the articles aren't just the recipes but also include all of the steps of trial and error so you can learn the techniques. That magazine showing up at my door the same day as my purchase of the Brunello was a sign, clear as day. I quickly wrote my check and mailed off the slip for my new subscription.

Thanks, dad.