WE BE Bloggin with LowCountry Joe®

Hilton Head WineFest, looking for "legs" and "tasting rain off a slate roof"

Cant believe it but once again, Hilton Head WineFest is happening this Saturday. It is billed as the largest outdoor wine tasting event on the East Coast and it marks the heralding of Spring in the Carolina Lowcountry.....

I have been a "Fest" purveyor of sorts of the grapey concoction for many years and have poured many a "taste". And to me, that is where the fun came in...watching the taster as they picked up their commemorative glass cleansed with water from one of my crystal pitchers and put it to their lips. The drinker that didn't have a clue about wine but was having fun would simply would "down"  the sucker and say "Man this Daufuskie wine sure is good, smile kindly and ask for a refill.... at which time I would fill the glass to the top and say "bottoms up" which they would cheerfully acknowledge and go on their merry way. Now that was my kind of wine taster and quite frankly my kind of guy/gal.

And then there were the wine writers that have received some sort of paper called a master sommelier certificate and are working toward a Certified Wine Educator Degree or whatever. Even more interesting to watch are the Judges of the event that wear these little tags around their neck that simpy say "Judge". When they walk up to the booth they kind of have an "air" about them and even without their wine tags bobbing about I can spot them three booths away. Now they take this taste of "The Dew" from South Carolina's first licensed winery serious, to say the least,  but it is in my personality to have some fun with them. Sooo, rather than putting a small taste of wine in the glass I fill-er to the brink. Ya see, this hinders them from the first stage of tasting, swirling the wine in the glass to see if it has what they call "legs". Now if they wanted to see legs they should of stayed home and watched old Tina Turner re-runs. Now this lack of being able to oogle the wines legs throws them all of kilter, but they will prevail in their predetermined task. With fingers placed strategically on the glass's stem they raise "The Dew" to their discretely puckered lips  and with distorted faces that remind me of sucking a lemon they gently seem to inhale the poor grape right out of the glass....and then comes the awful sucking swirly sounds  that remind me of emptying the bottom of a chocolate milkshake with a straw as they whisk the wine in their jowls....now If this sound were to occur from the human anatomy anywhere else in the public domain they would be surely be arrested for disorderly conduct....And now comes the much awaited comment we have all been waiting for. From the mouth of the sommelier that just "Tasted The Dew" I hear pontificating blurbs such as this....Ahh... this wine has all the flavors of a classic Cabernet Savignon full of zest and clean slate rain....Say what...clean slate rain...now this is where I am holding back folks...you know from one of those belly laughs where you slap your leg...when is the last time you tasted rain runoff that came off a clean slate roof...but the best is yet to come...Ahhh the aroma fills the nose, and sommeliers always seem to have superb ones, and the flavors come in waves like an oncoming Spring tide....flavors that are sweet and tart with herbaceous "notes"...and here is where I though I was at a wine tasting and not a music concert...silly me. So with the job at hand done, they make their way to the next booth  looking for those legs they have so surely missed.

Sadly, this year I will not be in my allotted booth to pour a taste of "The Dew".....and yes, I will miss my wine fans that faithfully search out the Silver Dew tent knowing their glass would  be filled to the brim. But if you happen to see me laughing hysterically somewhere  in the Lowcountry on Saturday for no apparent reason, its not because old LCJoe has gone off his proverbial rocker. Its  only because I have visions of a Judge seriously telling me my wine somehow has the tatse and zest of clean slate runoff  rain.

See ya on a warm Spring tide.

LowCountry Joe

Paul Harvey

 

It was a cold late afternoon in Erie Pennsylvania, the kind they poke fun at when they talk about Great Lakes weather. But there was excitement in the hearts of my young business fraternity brothers as we waited “all decked out in our suits and ties” in the lobby of the historic Warner theater. You see, in an attempt to raise funds for an upcoming fraternity convention in Dallas,  we, along with a local professional business group,  had been able to somehow convince Paul Harvey,  an up and coming broadcaster and commentator to fly to what has been called “the mistake on the lake” and share with Erie Pa. his unique form of commentary.

As the theater’s side door opened a stately man walked in followed by a whirl of snowflakes and a gust of cold air. But this did not seem to deter Mr. Harvey, bundled up in a long dark overcoat,  from walking directly to me, shaking my hand and  as the fraternity's President and evenings designated presenter,  given the opportunity to welcome him to our fair town.

 

As the lights came up and I greeted Mr. Harvey on stage, he was welcomed by a small but appreciative audience. The commentary thereafter  was classic Paul Harvey, spellbinding is his presentation, bigger than life, with no one daring  to cough or sneeze  and muffle the spoken word.

And then, when one was just beginning to be enamored by his unique style and commentary his oratory was over and he graciously departed the stage. An appreciative applause followed and what was to become  one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation’s history would soon depart Erie and begin the first year of twenty of  National syndication for “Paul Harvey Comments”.

At this point you might ask, “Well Joe, what is the rest of the story?” Well in this case there isn’t any. I was able, however, to  catch his eye as he was surrounded by well wishers and departed the old theater. In that brief split second in time I felt the warmness of this fine gentleman and his respect for a young up and coming businessman that would never cross his path again. His presence in my life, no matter how brief, had made me a better man and I thank him for that. God Bless you Paul Harvey.