I’m not a “wine-o” or a thief …

… so why do I have a bottle of red wine gathering dust in my kitchen with a large note on the side that reads …“stolen from the bottling line” ?

Here’s why …7 years ago I visited my sister Barbara in Templeton, California. She had just moved to her lovely new house, built on a section of land that her son Niels owns and is part of his large winery, Castoro Cellars.

 

 I hadn’t seen Niels for many years and it was fun to get to know him again and to meet his wife. He has been known as Beaver since childhood and it’s why the Castoro Cellars logo proudly displays a beaver and the words “dam fine wine”. Judging by the success of his business I would guess that logo to be accurate.

While there I was treated to a complete walk-through of their operations and at one point we watched as workers attached labels to the bottles rotating past on a conveyor belt. These, Beaver explained, were the wines that were sold at the Trader Joe stores nationwide.

 

Then he snatched one of the bottles from the belt, wrote “stolen from the bottling line” in large indelible silver letters and handed it to me as a gift.

Needless to say I have never opened it, although I still display it in my kitchen for fun…and often tell the tale of how I “stole” it.
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(I'm back from my HIATUS and hope to be catching up with all of you.  In a few days I will post where and what I was up to for the past 3 weeks.)