Letter From Dan's Wine Guide Editor: Giving Thanks

By Susan Whitney Simm

As so many of us tend to do this time of year, I recently reflected back on my life, hoping to rediscover a few of the many things I should be thankful for. It proved an easy task.

First, I am thankful that my husband David and I get to spend weekends and every other minute off from toiling for a living in a very special place, Shelter Island. Life changes dramatically from season to season here, and I particularly love the fall and winter when we build fires in the evenings soon after arriving and walk on deserted Shell Beach on balmy days. Island life is not for everyone - we always get asked how we can deal with living in a place you can only reach by boat. But after the long ride out from Manhattan, this time of year mostly in the dark, we pull onto the ferry, cut the engine, and wait for Kate to come take our one-way ticket.

"Welcome home guys," she always says. And suddenly, like magic, home we are.

I am also thankful that David, on top of being kind and handsome, shares my passion for great wine. This wasn't always so. When I met David he drank beer. Good, imported beer. But just beer. Many years later, after we'd been married a good while, we happened to go to L'Absinthe for dinner on a rainy, though otherwise unassuming, fall night. David ordered choucroute and I chose chicken poached in black truffle broth. Our waiter, whose name I can no longer remember, then proceeded to change our lives. He brought a bottle of Blain-Gagnard 2002 Chassagne Montrachet to our table. It was not particularly expensive, and it was a red from a region far more renowned for its whites, but it was the bottle that started a wine revolution in our house. We still have a few bottles left in our wine cellar after David bought all he could find the next day.

Speaking of wine and gratefulness, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the gods who send wine writers to wine editors and then proceed to have them collaborate as though they'd known each other for years. As all of you who read Dan's Wine Guides know, I have the great good fortune to have the very knowledgeable and talented Christopher Miller as my senior writer. Chris, a true wine and food professional with impressive credentials, has done an exceptional job and, this being the final wine guide of the year, I'd just like to say thanks for all the excellent work.

So until next year, I wish you all many good things, including the chance to learn more about wine. The pursuit of wine knowledge has wonderful rewards and, as evidenced by a recent evening, sometimes you'll even witness a miracle.

David and I were at a local restaurant and had ordered steaks. I chose a red to go with them but asked our waitress not to show David what it was. He stuck his nose deep into the glass.

"Just tell me which wine region of the world it's from," I asked hopefully. He swirled and sniffed as I waited patiently. "Bordeaux," he said. "Wow! That's it!" I said proudly. Then, content to bask in the glow of his knowledge, I watched as he swirled and sniffed some more. "Left Bank," he declared. Then he took a sip. "This is a St. Julien." He was right, of course.

Back to Contents