Talk-A-Vino

Wine is meant for sharing.

How do you share the wine? Well, that depends.

Of course, everyone knows the best way. Get together around the table. Open the wine. Pour into glasses. Sip, savor, enjoy the conversation.

This is the best way. But sometimes, it is not the easiest way. For example, when one person lives on the East Coast and another on the West Coast. What is the best way to share the wine then? Yes, nowadays, it is easy to speak with your friends no matter where they are – and not only talk, but you can see each other too, that’s a given. But still, how do you share the wine?

If you are lucky, you both might have the same bottle of wine. And you can be even double-lucky – especially if you have the right bottle, such as No Girls Double Lucky #8.

Talking about all the luck(s), there are a few here at play. Both my friend Wendy and I had the same bottle of wine available to us. Moreover, we had the bottle from the same vintage – 2019. Now, barring all the bottle variations, we were basically sharing the exact same bottle of wine – never mind 2,500 miles apart, as Wendy lives in Seattle.

Double Lucky wine was released during the pandemic, in 2021, and I was lucky enough not only to get a bottle of the inaugural 2017 vintage (all people on the No Girls mailing list received a bottle of Double Lucky for free), but also to attend a zoom call with Christophe Baron, the creator and owner of Cayuse wines and of the Cayuse “side branches” such as No Girls, Horsepower and others, and Elizabeth Bourcier, the winemaker – you can find my detailed impressions here. If you will read that post, you will find out that I was rather torn on the 2017 vintage.

2018 Double Lucky fared a lot better in my book, and it even made it to the Top Two Dozen of 2022 as wine number 19. And now, the 2019.

The 2019 No Girls Double Lucky #8 Walla Walla Valley (13.7% ABV, 34% Grenache, 33% Syrah, 33% Tempranillo, 21 months in neutral French oak) had a playful color, going from dark garnet to the crimson red, depending on the lighting. On the nose, on the first whiff, you can only talk about the rocks – the wine has a really profound minerality. Next, there is a hint of barnyard – just enough for those who like it, and we managed to agree with Wendy that we both love that little (or even not so little) funk on the nose – it makes the wine all the better (don’t talk to me about Brett). And then there were some cherries also present on the nose.

On the palate, the wine was all so interesting. We spoke with Wen for about 2 hours (wines, politics, families, popcorn, more wines – you know, just two friends catching up), and during these 2 hours, the wine kept changing. At first, the wine showed green bite, like chewing on the little branches of the wood (Elizabeth Bourcier is a big fan of whole cluster fermentation, and while it sounds wonderful, every time I hear the term, I almost cringe). After about 20 minutes, the green notes were gone, and the wine just had sweet cherries, olive tapenade, and rocks, lots of rocks. About an hour later, taking another sip, I suddenly discovered my beloved pepper! I love peppery notes of Syrah, this is an absolute hallmark in my book, so the wine definitely made me happy – and of course, it evoked memories of Michel Chapoutier Mathilda Shiraz, one of the most peppery Syrah renditions I ever tasted.

All in all, it was a great evening of wine and conversation – a double lucky we might even say, pun intended.

Never mind the distance – open a bottle and call your friends.

Until the next time – cheers!