Our first full day together on Brian’s 50th birthday trip included travel by van from Paris to Pommard (our home base for the remainder of the trip) and then either a walk to lunch in Volnay or a tasting at an as -yet-to-be-determined winery. Dinner was scheduled to be prepared and served at the house by the house Chef and staff.
We were warned about the importance of being on time so everyone showed up bright an early for the onboarding. Fred and I went looking for an early morning takeout coffee joint and, after some initial frustration, eventually found one. By the time we wended our way back to the hotel, the vans had arrived and been loaded up. Including my knapsack. I am uncomfortable if my phone and knapsack are not in contact with my body (great chance of leaving them behind) so I dug through the luggage, found my knapsack, and placed it where I intended to sit.
The seating worked out such that Brian and his relatives occupied one van and the “outsiders” the other. Now, if I had been traveling with my relatives, we would have formed a prayer circle, asked for traveling mercies, hugged, and then boarded. This group just jumped into the vans and left.
My first inkling that we might have a problem was when Fred began tapping the outside of his pants pocket as though he had lost something. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “My Apple Watch is showing that my Laptop is back at the hotel,” he said. Two things were wrong here: (i) If his laptop was missing, why was he tapping his pocket? and (ii) Why did he not secure his knapsack (like I did) when we returned from the coffee run?
We had traveled a bit but we were still within the Paris city limits. We would, obviously, have to return to the hotel to retrieve his laptop but who was going to call Brian in the next van and tell him that? Who was going to let him know that his carefully crafted, immaculate schedule was about to be violated by a doctor? The doctor, that’s who. We pulled over and stopped. And the second van did the same. Fred went out to tell his story (I did not accompany him — I did not want to see the blood on the floor). Turned out they decided to look in the back of that van and Fred’s backpack was laying there, not a care in the world. It seems that with the laptop not proximate to the watch, the watch was registering the last place the two had synced up.
We resumed our travel — and, by the way, kudos to the team of drivers who took us around during the entirety of our stay. They were warm, helpful, considerate, and always ready with a helpful recommendation.
We made very good time, arriving at our destination a little before lunch. We were staying at La Maison de Pommard and were welcomed effusively by Anda.
After we had been shown around, and made the appropriate noises, including expressing our satisfaction, nay, amazement, at the space, folks started asking “what’s next.” Brian had been having whispered discussions with Anda and informed us that timing (now post-lunch), day of the week (Sunday), and weather (raining) rendered external lunch sources non-existent and tasting opportunities negligible.
The house came with a fully stocked wine fridge and a backup cellar in the basement so we decided to call in Pizza and call it a day. Turned out to be a great decision.
Fred, Laurie, and I had left Tatttinger with three gift bottles but there were not at drinking temperature. I plunked mine into the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of Dhondt-Greeley Premier Cru Champagne from the house stash. I had never had this champagne but the host recommended it highly. She was correct. It was absolutely fantastic. And so began an absolutely awesome day, an indicator of what a fine time we would have together creating Brian’s 50th.
The tables in the lunch room were spread out; and that is how we deployed initially. But as the juice flowed, and the food arrived, we wanted to operate more as a single unit; so we strung the tables together. I didn’t have great Pizza on my bingo card for Burgundy but that number played. And the conversation; insightful and enlightening. I personally had some phenomenal discourse with David and Jen, the people I knew least coming on to this trip. I really like them.
The other guys could only take so much of this stuff so they snuck off; and took their significant others with them. The first indication that I had that they were not in the house was when I received a text from Fred saying that they were tasting at a winery around the corner and I should come join them. I texted him back asking exactly where they were. Crickets. I went out, looked right, looked left, and then came back in. I was not going to desert my soul mates for this crew who flew the nest silently.
They eventually returned with a number of sad stories. There was not much happening around. They fell in on this winery that turned out to be ungrateful.. The people were bad because Matt dropped one of the bottles they bought and it broke and the woman would not replace it. Of course the winery’s responsibility ceased the minute they left the premises. Entitled tourists. They came home grumbling; but they brought additional wines for the cause. Sweet.
This was a lively afternoon filled with great wine, conversation, food, music, laughter, and camaraderie. Lovely. Then we had to go prepare for dinner.
I don’t know how come we didn’t all fall asleep and miss dinner. When i arrived, one of the last, if I remember correctly, Brian, Matt, and Fred had matching tee shirts which informed of the fact that this was all of their birtday parties, with their births being 10 years removed.
We settled in for dinner and it was fabulous. The first course was a fish and i had not seen fish presented in this manner before. It looked more like a dumpling than fish. I thought i would have a piece to be courteous but it was stunning: light, airy, full of flavor emanating both from the fish and the accompanying sauce.
The second course was a chicken which demoted Colonel Sanders to a private. This was followed by a cheese plate and dessert. The wines shown were the wines consumed
over the course of the day.
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