Here are three moments from Wine Into Water having to do with, well, wine...
1. A wine heist?
Following his gaze, Caldwell asked, “And who owns that lovely yacht?”
Indeed, who? The answer came to Grant as he absentmindedly took another drink of his wine. He looked at the glass, and what Lafleur and Pudovkin were doing became clear.
“This isn’t about spies sharing or stealing secrets. It’s not about national security.”
Paige said, “Are you going to let me in on your revelation?”
Grant hesitated, as he went over the theory one more time in his head. “It’s a heist. That’s Sir James Blasingame’s yacht. Tonight, after the race, Blasingame will be hosting an auction of some of the most expensive wines in the world. And he’s doing so on that yacht.”
2. A very special wine tasting...
For opening such a rare, expensive bottle, the group at Banner’s spacious Upper West Side apartment in Manhattan was unusually small. In addition to his daughter and son-in-law being in attendance, Colin Wiggs, a well-known New York master sommelier, and Pearson Gerards, a columnist for a premiere wine-tasting website, waited to savor a bottle of Merlot from 1929. The website also sent along a photographer, who would be taking pictures but not tasting.
The five were seated at a large round table in Banner’s high-ceilinged library. The photographer had taken shots of the bottle. He then clicked away as Banner relayed the history of how this bottle, along with two others he had purchased at auction, had been taken from the Bordeaux region of France by the Nazis. The three bottles were found at the end of the war among Hitler’s massive stash of stolen wine – some half-a-million bottles – hidden in his Eagle’s Nest high in the Bavarian Alps. Banner smiled, and added, “In one of those moments of fitting justice in history, this wine was found and liberated by de Gaulle’s soldiers.”
The photographer took pictures of the smiles and anticipation on each person’s face while Wiggs opened the bottle with some ceremony. Of course, as the owner who paid $405,000 to purchase the bottles at auction, the first glass was Banner’s to swirl, eye, smell, and finally, taste. He said nothing; his face expressionless.
3. Some very expensive wine...
Holden hesitated, pulled over another glass, and looked up once again at Grant with the silent question. Stephen Grant briefly, and almost completely, returned to the man who served the CIA many years before.
I’ll probably never have another chance in my life to sample a $200,000-plus wine.
Grant nodded.
Holden smiled with far less sadness, and poured the wine.
With the Glock still in hand, Grant picked up the glass. Holden raised his own in salute. Stephen eyed the color and clarity, and breathed in the aromas. He then took more than a mere sip, moved the liquid around his mouth and swallowed. “Impressive.”
Holden declared, “Worth the money.”
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