A toast to loved ones, here and beyond
Mrs. Scatter, concerned for her blog-overburdened husband (always nameless), offers a relief pitch …
It’s Memorial Day weekend. Let us toast the memory of our dearly departed by sipping wine in the gorgeous Willamette Valley, where wineries en masse open their doors and uncork their bottles for just a few days. It’s a rare opportunity to glimpse the cellars of many small producers.
Mr. Scatter and I used to jump at the chance on this holiday weekend to head to McMinnville and Eyrie Vineyards, which used to be open only Memorial Day and Thanksgiving weekends. Now, to our delighted surprise, Eyrie has a tasting room that’s open noon-5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. This weekend Eyrie will pour several wines from 2007 without Oregon winemaking pioneer David Lett, also known as Papa Pinot, who died last October. Eyrie winemaker Jason Lett, David’s son, says 2007 is a vintage that, if harvested just right, will be similar to the epic vintages of the 1970s, the ones that put Oregon pinot noir on the world stage. Time will tell. We might have to taste them for ourselves, while they’re young and we knew them when.
How to deal with our own young, though? I am growing increasingly convinced that all my childcare needs could be satisfied if only I had an ex-husband. A friend is in the valley for the weekend sipping wine. Another friend regularly flies to San Francisco. What to do with their grade-schoolers? Oh, that’s right, they have exes. My current first husband (nameless) says that’s what starter marriages are for. You know, breed and bail. I somehow missed that trend. Wine-tasting and scenic rolling hills just don’t have the same romantic appeal with large, smelly boys bickering in the backseat.
But this is a weekend to remember loved ones, here and gone. Perhaps the promise of a picnic and some flying football will be the ticket to wine country. Happy Memorial weekend. Toast and be merry.
– Laura Grimes
May 23rd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
[...] Scatter and I used to jump at the chance on this holiday weekend to head to McMinnville and Eyrie V click for more var gaJsHost = ((”https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : [...]
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:30 pm
The problem with having writers for friends is that your heretofore private life becomes fodder for the next blog posting! Or was this all a roundabout way of wishing for us to bring back a bottle for sharing? At any rate, thanks for a great laugh as we head out of town.
May 23rd, 2009 at 8:08 pm
You were perfectly private until you posted your name.
May 24th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Couldn’t you just leave them (those sweet boys) at the house for the weekend?!?
May 24th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I’d prefer our public dollars for emergency services be spent elsewhere.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:58 am
I was going to ask whether you basement door has a lock on it, but lambert already beat me to that suggestion, and you’ve already offered a thoughtful (and civic-minded) rebuttal. Enjoy your holiday!
May 25th, 2009 at 9:19 am
For my part, I hope Mr. Scatter, as eloquent and elegant a writer as he is, will send in Ms. Relief Pitcher again, because to extend the sports metaphor further (godfrey, what’s gotten into me, I HATE sports metaphors) this one was a home run.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Readers far and wide will be pleased to learn that Mrs. Scatter (who is still, by the way, ruminating about whether there might not be a better name to employ) has future projects in mind for Art Scatter. Mr. Scatter, for one, is ecstatic.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Mr. Scatter is also shocked — shocked! — by the introuction of full-frontal nudity to a family blog.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Puts me in mind of my father’s account of taking a bunch of fourth graders to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to the Greek sculpture court at that, “Mr. Ullman, what’s THAT?” the darling little boys kept asking, as they pointed at the marble crotches.
Who said this was a family blog, anyway?
May 25th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Well, as I used to say when I worked for a “family” newspaper and discovered some sort of innocuous statement or another was verboten because it might upset the kiddies: “Whose family?”
May 25th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
[...] from the wine-tasting [...]
May 26th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I thought name required meant my real name. Have now created a new persona. Lovely wines in Carlton and no smelly/stinky kids were in our car. (I’m voting for stinky btw)
June 12th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Thought perhaps a day or two late, and surely a buck or two short, here I am to save your skin. You opined that you are unable to comment on the ageability of the 07 pinot noirs. Well I am happy to do it for you. Indeed, I agree with Jason that the 2007 EYRIE pn is remarkably similar to the young 1975 (thought I suspect he may not recall it as well as I do). I suggest that a case of two of that wine layed down well will be such a delight around 2015-2020 that you’ll surely climb out of your dusty dungeon though the non-child-proof escape hatch to track me down and thank me personally for leading you along the golden path. And I ain’t kiddin. PS - this does NOT apply to other winery’s pn wines. I cannot vouch for them.
June 12th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Thank you, Mr. Russ. Neither Mr. Scatter nor I should be in charge of buying wine, but perhaps we can camouflage our checkbook in typical corporate fashion and haul away a case or two to hide in our dusty dungeon.