Wine Trip

After all the talk and pictures about the California trip you would think I would be done writing about it. There is however an interesting little postscript. Our last full day in the Napa Valley was a Friday and that was the day we chose to go on the small group wine tour. I ended up purchasing six bottles of fairly expensive wine. Since we were leaving bright and early the next morning (and it would be a Saturday) I was concerned about getting the wine home. With airline security being particularly tight now, and no liquids larger than three ounces allowed through security, I know I couldn't get the wine on board. I could have checked it, but did I really want the brainiac baggage handlers throwing my wine around?

I decided to ask the hotel concierge for suggestions. She suggested Buffalo Shippers in Napa, a company widely known for shipping wine safely across the country. The normal procedure was to fill out a form and contact Buffalo to pick it up. Since it was late in the day and Buffalo was already closed and we would be leaving early the next morning, she offered to contact them for the pickup in the morning. She said she just needed to open the box and confirm the wine contained inside was as stated on the form. When she saw the bottles, she commented on what a great selection they were, and seemed genuinely excited at the brands. I left them safely in her hands.

Well here we are a month later and the wine hasn't arrived. I called the hotel and after ten minutes of run around, they admitted the wine was sitting in the General Managers office and hadn't been picked up. They assured me it would go out immediately. I can't help but wonder if it had stayed there much longer, if that wine wouldn't have ended up in some one's personal supply. I still don't have the shipment, but I'm expecting it shortly. We'll see.