Hurricane Helene was the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove. She looked innocent and naive some 100 miles offshore but a slight flirtatious wobble towards the coast and a vengeful storm surge that rose with impunity right as she pushed past us in Tampa/St. Pete. I was caught unprepared for what followed as were most of the locals but I had enough time to move my hybrid Jeep (and it’s flammable batteries) along with my vintage Magnum PI 328 to higher ground before I had fish swimming in my garage.
My collection of wine shippers to accommodate some of the Burgundy collection I plan to sell later in this decade (which is stored at a Generac protected, high ground off-site facility) became pool floaties for the nightswim in my basement. Anyone TCA curious, the stench was unmistakable, even to my hyper 7 year old son.
Then there was the fried wine fridge and the 200+ bottles most of which fared fairly well as it was at 52 degrees when the transformers blew up. However boxes stored in the lower 1/3rd were submerged for a good 12 hours until the tides finally receded.
Two boxes of Fingers Crossed 2018 release bottles were part of the Deep Six experiment. I have a new appreciation for the wax seals! Opened a bottle the syrah tonight and it was quite satisfying. Nice complexity with gobs of meatiness and black fruit along with a little earthiness and grittiness. Didn’t discern any bayou bog bacterium and the cork looked pristine!
Truth be told, my FIRST Fingers Crossed bottle to open and I’ve been on their list since it was Faethm.
Quite a silver lining to the extremes of weather that we witnessed and suffered through a long night with no power and neighbors/pets bedding down in our home since we sit a bit higher than many local residences.
TCA is emblazoned in my olfactory memory now along with the terrific Fingers Crossed syrah.
Ardeis in Seminole, Florida
