Lou Kessler wrote:Covert, did you realize that Mile's apparent love of Cheval Blanc was contradicted by the fact that, that particular Bordeaux is usually about 40% Merlot. I think the author wrote that to make fun of wine geeks in general.
I was under the impression that Casanova was so successful with his seductions because he offered his women first growth Bordeauxs with their hamburgers. Is that true? I figured that you Covert might know the veracity of this info?
Most of our solid body is carbon and most of what we breathe is nitrogen, but carbon and nitrogen in the right blend yield cyanide. I think if Alexander Payne wanted to poke fun at geeks over the Merlot contradiction, he would have used Pétrus. The incongruity was to me more like Mona Lisa’s smile, a delicious conundrum of resonating opposites, or the Jamesian theme of Old World/New World love/hate relativity.
I never heard that about Casanova! I prefer to enjoy the combo when I am by myself. I would think a woman might think me pretty cheap if I suggested it rather than a fine meal. My greatest seduction ploy (in the past) was to treat women to an exqusite dinner and then take them directly to their homes, making no suggestion whatsoever regarding any expectation of returned favors. This apparently caused so much cognitive dissonance that the women usually subsequently chased after me seeking an interpretation. I know I told this story at its time, but one time at a conference, a pretty, young Black woman overheard me talking to a colleague about some expensive bottles we had recently purchased. The lady interjected that she would give her body to any man who bought her a $100 bottle of wine. My colleague and I treated the woman that night to a wonderful dinner. I purchased two bottles, a red and a white, each costing in the high $90's, just shy of the prize number. I enjoyed the lady's society so much I took her out alone the following night and ordered a 1995 Chateau Branaire, which cost $96. I know none of this is very relevant to your comment, but I got thinking about it from what you said; because, as Henry James said, relations stop nowhere.
The only women I have ever known in my life to love, not just like, or appreciate, Bordeaux are my wife and Jenise Stone. I got the sense that a number of women with whom I had very brief encounters in Bordaeaux did, however. Casanova had opportunities with women in Bordeaux.
