Page 41 of Gone With the Wine

“I’m sorry I don’t have dessert to offer you,” he says about a year later.

“That’s okay.” I could imagine a different kind of dessert…

No. What am I thinking? This is not what I came home for.

But wow. He’s tempting.

Chapter8

Jansen

Iwatch one of the tasting room associates fill a box with various bottles of wine. The customers are smiling and thrilled with their purchases after trying the wines here. I love that.

As I stroll behind the counter, Hanna rings up another purchase, and more customers wait in line. I don’t know if it’s the change in ownership, but business has been great.

I remember what Bianca said about making my brand about hockey. I have a branding professional working on that. She said kind of the same thing, but for her it was more about me—making the brand about me, as a hockey player. That doesn’t thrill me, but if it gets people in the door, I guess I can see the benefit.

She had a lot of questions I couldn’t answer, like, what is your vision? What style wine do you want to make? What is your voice? I felt like an idiot, but she suggested that I continue with the Take Flight wines, many of them named after birds, and gradually introduce my own.

I pause beside Hanna and greet the customers. “Seems you found some wines you like to take home.”

“We did!” The young woman smiles. “You’re Jansen Beck.”

“That’s me.”

“We’re big hockey fans,” she says, gesturing to the man beside her, presumably her husband. “We used to live in Huntington Beach. We went to a lot of your games.”

“Oh yeah? That’s great.”

We chat a bit more, then they step aside for the next customers.

“It’s so cool to meet you,” one man says. “I’ll never forget that goal you scored against the Condors in overtime in the seventh game of the playoffs.”

I grin. “That was a while ago.”

“It was a great game, and beating the Condors was fantastic.”

The Condors and my team, the Golden Eagles, have a longstanding rivalry.

“I enjoy beating them,” I agree.

I spend a little more time chatting with customers. One couple wants to talk about wine rather than hockey, but I’ve been doing my homework on my wines and I can talk to them about Goldfinch, the small-production blend of cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot, and merlot.

“I really enjoyed it,” the man says. “I think it’ll be even better with more time in the cellar.”

Huh. I file that away.

This is cool. I’m interested in the craft of making wine, but seeing your creations being consumed and enjoyed and talked about really brings it to life. Bianca talked about music. About how it should evoke emotion, and how wine is the same. How it should be a shared experience.

Yeah.

Maybe part of what I was missing after hockey was the fans—the passion and joy they have about hockey. The shared experience of being on the ice while the fans are cheering and losing their minds. And maybe I’m finding here a way to create joy for people in a completely different way.

Chapter9

Bianca

“Jesus Jones.”

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