A Rock, A Raccoon and Red Wine

I can honestly say 2020 has been one year I won't be sorry to see end; and, we still have a little over 4 months to go. 2019 wasn't too great either but 2020 takes the cake. Just when you think things can't get worse or stranger they do. So that takes me to the title of this edition of my blog -- A Rock, A Racoon and Red Wine. What do these 3 things have in common? And how do they lend themselves to the strangeness of 2020? Now if you don't already know the story (and some of you close to me do) then hold on because this is one of those stories where you roll your eyes and say, "you just can't make this stuff up!"

For those of you who know me, some find it hard to believe that I'm a bit shy. Type A at work but reserved in my personal life. I had always thought it would be a great idea to join a wine club, meet new people and enjoy a common interest, but was a bit timid about doing this alone. I can also admit that I was a bit hesitant to join a consumer club and not one filled with industry professionals. Finally I saw a club that seemed interesting with a line up of wines that looked awesome. This night's line up featured a bunch of older vintages from one of Australia's premiere wineries, Clarendon Hills. A relatively young winery founded in 1990, located in McLaren Vale, Clarendon Hills produces some of the region's finest wines and was one of the first, if not the first to make a single vineyard bottling. This night's tasting was a flight various 2010 bottlings including Grenaches, Syrahs and Cabernet Sauvignons -- all very highly rated.

I arrived at the restaurant where we were seated outdoors in the back courtyard on a lovely summer night. The group was super nice and I was happy I had ventured out. We introduced ourselves since I was the newbie, gave our dinner order and then got started tasting. So here's the RED WINE part of the tale. First wine was a bit over the hill, but the next 2 were tasting really well and I was getting excited to try the rest when...now hold on folks because the next part of the tale is well, hard to believe. What follows is the A ROCK and A RACCOON part of the tale.