The Tide is High
Folks, this is going to be a somewhat short one, because I am running on fumes right now.
Ya might have heard, but Tropical Storm Ida hammered New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York on Wednesday night. When I went down to see what was going on, there was water all over the floor right where my new hot water heater and boiler live, and I was terrified a pipe had burst. “Luckily” it wasn’t that, but a window had come open and rain poured into the basement. After I got it closed, I realized water was also actually bubbling up from the seams of the floor and walls in two different spots. I also heard something happening from the sump pump in another part of the basement where water wasn’t directly coming in, but never having owned a sump pump before I didn’t know what was going on.
(Is there a website that just has a bunch of things around your house and sound files that say, This is normal, vs This is bad? Please point me there. Thanks.)
Big thanks to Colin from Princeton Air, whom I texted simply because I had no idea who the hell else to even ask about stuff. And he called me back. In the middle of a tropical storm. He talked me down and made me feel like I was doing all the right things, while at the same time there was really nothing else I could do until the rain stopped. I don’t know why but I found that calming.
Long story short, I shop vacuumed up all the water I could, and went to bed around 1:30 with the dehumidifier and a fan doing their things. By this morning, the floor was dry, the sun was out, it was cool for the first time in months, and it looked like nothing had ever happened.
And it was just the unfinished part of the basement that had water. The finished part, including where the wine resides, was just fine.
Here’s how stressed out I was. It took me 20 minutes and taking a needed break from the first round of vacuuming to think, oh hey, is the wine OK?
Obviously a taste test was needed to make sure everything really is okay, so I pulled a bottle from the bottom of my wine rack to try, 2014 Domaine du Gouyat Bergerac.
Bergerac is a wine region in the southwest of France, not too far from Bordeaux. It’s almost entirely merlot, 95%, with a little bit of cabernet franc. The color is turning brick red due to age. I get some cocoa and a little black cherry on the nose. More black cherry and dark plum on the palate. The finish is short, but it does spread across your palate.
I feel like this vintage is a bit past its prime, but still okay. I might not serve it to guests, but I’d probably have with a burger or a mushroom dish. (I bring the good stuff out for y’all!)
So I’m tired and exhausted, but when I look at the destruction leveled in other parts of the state, I feel extremely fortunate. And I still have plenty of wine to tide me through the next “storm of the century.”
Hope you and yours are safe and well.