Cross country ended unceremoniously last week when we didn’t qualify anybody for state, and yet this past week, despite having two hours a night freed up in my calendar, I didn’t feel as if I really had any extra time. I’ve spoken to countless other coaches who lament this phenomenon, most recently my friend who after two decades resigned her position as head boys and girls tennis coach. When the season ends, the time fills with other things, but I never seem to feel as if I have more of it, not really. Maybe it’s some fault of my own.

I did begin picking up the kids from daycare again, something I genuinely enjoy doing, and I got a lot of grading done. I got caught up on a few projects, and I started making dinner for my family again. All of this is good. But the time is just as full as it was during the season. It was so full, in fact, that I barely had any time for wine, tragic though that sounds. I even skipped my usual Saturday tastings yesterday in favor of making lunch for the family and installing some additional insulation in the attic as we await the coming winter’s cold. I did, however, have a few glasses of wine this week that were certainly worth remarking upon.

If you read my post earlier this week, I’m really keen on Tom Rees and Pine & Brown right now, so last night, with my wife having taken the kids to see her mother, I thought I’d try another one. I was richly rewarded for this decision.

The aromas of bright purple fruits, oily leather, and autumnal spices hit my nose from an arms length without any difficulty at all; the powerful bouquet on this wine was a promise of what’s to come. It’s cool to me that Tom Rees, who I regard highly as a talented artisan winemaker, branched out and found different fruit to work with in this 2014 vintage. The Cab Sauv he sourced from the Konrad Vineyard on Mount Veeder is rich, formidable, and brooding, yet packed with incredible flavors of overripe plum, blackberry, a touch of blueberry, and candied notes. The structure is perfect, as delicate as that of mountain fruit gets in my experience, yet a promise that this wine will hold up for a lifetime. A touch of sweeter black licorice plays at the back of my palate and the wine itself boasts terrific staying power, lingering pleasantly upon the palate until I take another sip. Youthful and fruit-forward, I love this wine right now, but I also suspect it will do well cellared for decades to come. Whether you drink it now or later, it stands alone nicely but would pair diversely. I highly recommend it.

I have often said that how we spend a time is a great indicator of our priorities. Right now, I’m typing while Titus reads to me from Little Blue Truck. Later I’ll mow the lawn, and then the family will head to church. But what I’m most looking forward to today is the promise of a walk with Sonja, Zooey, and Titus, a long one, perhaps around Hanscomb Park, where we can all enjoy the changing colors in the leaves and the company of one another. Those are my priorities right now, on a Sunday that’s my own, though I’d like to figure out how to make them more evidently my priorities at all times.

Cheers,