Ilona Cole, Guest Author, Story 178

Harris Wine Cellar in Portland

Portland had a wonderful wine shop, I frequented when I was looking for a very special bottle of wine, for a gift or a dinner. I often, if I was the only one in the store, would have an informative conversation with Mr. Harris, the owner. On one occasion I had something very rare and special in mind, and of course Mr. Harris had it. It was a bottle of that most beautiful of all French red wines, a Romanée Conti. For me it was an informative lecture on its origin, history and this wine production.

Then Mr. Harris told me that he loves to share his knowledge of many wines, that he gives classes in the evenings on all different wines to gentlemen only. That the next course of classes will start May first. I thought right away of purchasing the first class and adding it to this fine bottle of wine for Valentine day for my sweetheart next week. It sounded perfect, since Mr. Harris started with the French wine from the Cote de Nuits, the French section of Burgundy, the area where they grow the beautiful grapes for the Romanée Conti Estate. This bottle, which was going home with me stated:

                       Appellation Romanee-Conti Controlee, Cote-D’Or France 1974.

At auction in 2024 the most expensive bottle in the world was the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, France.

This wine can demand these prices due to the factor of very high quality, reputation and exclusivity.

I left Mr. Harris a very happy lady. Such treasure for this special day next week. It will be fun making out a beautiful menu and going shopping for a great dinner.

Hal completed all the classes and after each subject conclusion, they would all go to dinner in a great place for a 7course dinner with all the appropriate wines for each course. Gentlemen only and formal attire.

My Hal really enjoyed the wine, knowing this beautiful drop, was a wonderful surprise to my sweetheart. The courses were a joy for Hal, he wanted to learn a lot about all wines. On the evenings of the classes, he would, that day, go to his Vancouver office, not to be late.

This year’s Valentine was a tremendous success. The center of course was the bottle of the wine. This wine asked for the best cut of meat, a tenderloin, done in clarified butter all the way around and finished in the oven, medium. I made a wonderful sauce from the stock in the pan by deglacing the pan with a fine Cognac and a little cream. We had white asparagus on the side and Bagette with saltfree butter. Did not want too many flavours on the side, to really enjoy the meat with this delectable sauce. Since it says that red wine goes good with dark chocolate, I decided to bake a dark chocolate Gateau, and served it fresh from the oven still warm, and poured another glass of this special, grand wine with it. YUM.