...Tasted wine with sept1c_tank who pours very generously and is partial to a tasty Gewurztraminer that I must confess is very nice straight out of the bottle while hiding behind the coat rack.It was a great get-together last night for Free Coffee at sept1c_tank's workplace. The event was held at Chateau Thomas Winery in Plainfield, Indiana just west of Indy and included a lot of coffee some wine tasting, crackers, some more wine, beef jerky, some more wine, cheese, some more wine, pretzels, wine, grapes, and wine. And some more wine.
Got to see the actual pressing and fermentation and blending rooms plus the aging barrels and a lot of wine and some more wine.
Met a lot of cachers and tasted some more wine and got to put some faces with the names in the logs and drink some wine with the faces. Tasted wine with sept1c_tank who pours very generously and is partial to a tasty Gewurztraminer that I must confess is very nice straight out of the bottle while hiding behind the coat rack.
AmishHacker was there but not tasting wine which was fortunate because it meant they kept filling his class and looking away at opportune moments. Also little Katie (Hit&Run) and Rupert2 were on hand and decidedly nonalcoholic. Katie is also underaged but had fake ID and was able to score me a few glasses when bribed with some leftover Burger King toys. Rupert2 wasn't too happy and took umbrage with my antics but had to put them back when IndyKenn pointed out that they were really borrowed umbrages and not mine. Katie was cool until the Prairiepartners forced her to rat me out for leaving something in poppagoth's coat pocket while it hung on the coat rack.
Also met Muirwoody who tried to corner me and reclaim his glass of wine that I was tasting from in the back room along with the tray of Pinot Noir samples that the wine lady left just sitting out on the table. Indy Diver didn't have any wine at all which created a problem, as he wouldn't set a pick for me as I tried to dodge Muirwoody's attempts to reclaim his glass. Team J& K got into the act by climbing onto a rack of very nice and once very expensive magnums of Bordeaux and Cabernets which unfortunately wasn't rated for the weight sending the nice couple careening on top of Cache Commando who immediately blamed one of the MaynOnes for the incident and was taken down by a flying drop kick from ten's mom who will figure later in the story.
...and how can he say that the stuff was REALLY worth over $75 a bottle when they didn't even have any price stickers on the bottles and not all of them were really broken when we knocked over the display anyways? A great time was had by the dozens of others who I vaguely remember including tens mom who was threatening to dance on the tables with deermark offering to tuck until I pointed out that she might spill her wine and sept1c_tank mentioned the damage deposit and started a search for the missing tray of Pinot Noir and trying to figure out who left the "present" in the punch bowl which wasn't me because by then I was wrestling for stemware with Muirwoody in a corner and we hardly damaged as many bottles as sept1c_tank said we damaged and how can he say that the stuff was REALLY worth over $75 a bottle when they didn't even have any price stickers on the bottles and not all of them were really broken when we knocked over the display anyways? The Nomads were most upset over the failed dance show as they had brought their tap shoes and were wanting to show us all the routine that brought down the house back home. Fortunately Strohem was on hand to demonstrate why she wanted a peaceful gathering to begin with and if we all didn't get peaceful real quick she was going to unload a big can of "WhoopAss" on all of us. Since she was easily outweighed by the Oldtimers and qtips there was no problem getting her into the cheese cooler where I think she may still be chattering and cheddaring even as we speak since the cooler ended up covered by the table that Attila the Hun was using as an emergency corkscrew.
Well, this crowd of sheep was on hand only no one was certain whose sheep they were or if Amish Hacker and The Wright Bros. brought dates. The sheep were polite enough if a tad RAMbunctious and proceeded to leave little sheepy presents all over the nice, but now damp carpet. Sept1c_tank finally got fed up with them and spent much of the evening woolgathering and hooking up the ShopVac which he made me use to soak up the wine that was puddling nicely underfoot. Well, 2qwerqE got scared when she heard the ShopVac fire up because she was having flashbacks to her teen-age years after a few glasses of something red and sweet and she jumped into the hungarian barbarian's lap who was totally flabbergasted. Flabbergastery is illegal in Plainfield and the Lost Vermonters got on their cell phones to report the blatant flabbergastic act only to be stopped by WCNUT & TATER who had seen far worse at the Jeffersonville Sportsdrome and couldn't believe that those "crazy Yankees" would have the gall to call in the coppers for something as minor as flabbergastery especially in light of the "floor show" that N&B were putting on with the one sheep that sept1c_tank lost track of.
Anyways ... the damage wasn't that bad and the ShopVac cleaned up much of the mess quite handily but the wine did taste a tad "dusty" when I took the canister into the warehouse to clean it. I found a handy electric drill that worked great on oak barrels but sept1c_tank came in at just the wrong time becauseIndy Diver got Mountain Climber to post his bail but still can't get what's left of his truck back until Dr. Thomas gets the rest of the damage deposit back that disappeared shortly after the power went out. Dr. Thomas who owns the winery was watching the security cameras and knew that there were no warehouse people working THAT late and definitely none who were authorized to drill. So, there I was with a drill hidden behind my back and my pinkie finger stuck into the hole when sept1c_tank came in hollering and told me to leave but I couldn't 'cause then my pinkie would leave too and the wine would go shooting onto the floor and be wasted but he wasn't too sympathetic and the Plainfield Police Department was already there along with Dr. Thomas and three fellas from the local Power and Light company who happened to stop by when they heard the word on their scanner and had their hopes up which was fortunate since I was sent on my merry way without a field sobriety test which I promptly gave myself in the field next to the winery and onto a local power line which came down in a bright cascade of brilliant white sparks right onto the Power & Light guys' truck which burst merrily into flames and made the local morning news.
In the resulting chaos I was able to make my escape and since I was using Indy Diver's truck to get to the event he is still in Plainfield trying to explain that he wasn't driving but it was REALLY a totally different guy with an electric drill and onion dip on his shirt behind the wheel which means he won't be coming home any time soon. Muirwoody ended up with my wallet which will do him a lot of good especially if he gets picked up for the missing license plate that I needed to help get away in the Plainfield Police cruiser that was left conveniently parked next to the fire trucks. Indy Diver got Mountain Climber to post his bail but still can't get what's left of his truck back until Dr. Thomas gets the rest of the damage deposit back that disappeared shortly after the power went out.
And a good time was had by all.