Peter Lehman Borassa Shiraz 2005
T here are times in your life that you just have to sit and have a celebration. Not a get up and whoop it up kind of celebration and invite the neighbors. I’m talking about the kind of celebration where you take stock of your life and evaluate where you are. The celebration might be a moment where you simply watch a sunset and be thankful for whatever it was that you wanted to celebrate. I remember sitting in the backyard one day, perfect weather, grilling a big steak on our new grill and thanking the Lord that I found Mrs. Dan. She changed my life in so many special ways.
When big events happen in your life the reasons you celebrate change. Like when I had just turned 50 and Mrs. Dan told me the reason why she had been tossing her cookies so much. Hmmmm. Changing diapers at age 50. Do you celebrate that? At that time all I had was a deer in the headlights look. Three years later I sat in the backyard, watching little red-headed Mr. Ben chase butterflies. I sat there enjoying the weather (and a nice glass of wine) and celebrated the joy of being a dad.
Being a dad reorders the celebration milestones. This past week we hit the big jackpot. The reason to sit down and have a glass of celebratory wine and thanks my lucky stars was two things. Having made it 8 years in a marriage to the most wonderful woman in the world….. and Mr. Ben’s first successful trip to the potty. If you are a parent you understand where I’m coming from.
With a ploop and a flush, three and a half years of poopy diapers ended. I can no longer tell people “I never imagined that I would be changing poopy diapers at age 54.”
Now our anniversary the other night wasn’t exactly celebrated the way I expected. I stood in line for 3 hours to get Mr. Ben his swine flu shot with a bunch of people I was convinced were about a week late… already coughing and wheezing and giving everyone in line swine flu. Mr. Ben took the shots like a man (he got the regular flu shot in the other arm. He didn’t cry at all. But when I started to pour his orange drink down the sink in the shot room he had a full fledged meltdown that lasted for a couple of miles from the health clinic until he realized we were pulling into Chic-fil-A where they serve his beloved chicken nuggets kid’s meal…. complete with toy. I really think it’s the toy, not any magic that Truett Cathy pulled off.
Me and Mrs. Dan looked at each other and said “happy anniversary.” She had been fighting a sinus infection so she wasn’t feeling very celebratory. I was stressed over crawling all over the floor at the health clinic after Mr. Ben where I knew that people with the plague had left little germ time bombs for me.
So tonight we opened a wonderful bottle of Peter Lehman Shiraz.. (See there was actually a wine review in here somewhere). I was saving it for a special occasion. It was Friday. We survived 8 years of marriage and Mr. Ben pooped in such a way that I didn’t have to clean it up and make a bee-line for the trash cans.
No more spending $20 for diapers and pull ups at Publix.
I’m savoring the full rich fruit flavor that this wine delivers. It smells the way a wine should smell. Lush, fruity. It has a nice mellow finish that makes you say “ahhhhh.” It’s deep color is very inviting. Now I paid more than $10 for this wine so this is a big deal for me.
I think it was around $19. I’m still looking for the receipt.
It only makes sense that Peter Lehman wines have been featured at 4 tasting since we started this site. Plus Roger at the Vineyard had a great seminar on these wines back in September. Matter of fact that’s when I bought this little gem.
The label says it can be “cellared with confidence” for 5 years. I think I might just buy another bottle and put it away. I mean in 5 years I might be celebrating the joys of being a Cub Scout dad. Hmmmm. There’s some memories I might just leave stored for a while.
So no more “Potty Caddy,” no more saving $1.50 coupons for Huggies, no more listening to Mr. Ben saying “I don’t have a pooy diaper” when our noses said otherwise.. Hmmm. I digress. I guess I was in the middle of reviewing a really great wine. A slight oak taste. Good from start to finish. We had it tonight with Mr. Ben’s staple of life… chicken nuggets. With a side of hot sauce Mrs. Dan made with Frank’s Red Hot Sauce with melted butter. I also had a gummy bear with Mr. Ben to celebrate an encore visit to the potty.
Did I say that that first poop cost me a set of 10 Hot Wheels. It was worth it considering I also got to drink this wonderful wine with Mrs. Dan.
From: Barossa, Australia
Winery: Peter Lehman
Year: 2005
