So, that wine did improve with time
It went right over my head. But at a local premiere of "Bottle Shock," co-producer Marc Lhormer pointed out a tasty morsel of irony.
In a scene shot in a Sonoma cafe, there's a tableside debate between French wine expert Pierre Tari and Steven Spurrier. Spurrier is the Paris wine-shop owner who dreamed up the epochal 1976 tasting in which a chardonnay from Calistoga's Chateau Montelena scored a stunning victory over the French.
Tari and Spurrier spar over whether a particular French wine should be opened young or aged. The wine in question is a 1959 bourdeax by Cos d'Estournel.
That winery ring a bell? It's the same one that recently purchased Chateau Montelena, making a French property of Calistoga's champion in the Decision of Paris.
If that tidbit wins you something in "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," remember where you heard it.
'DEEP THROAT' AT 95: It's Mark Felt's birthday today and he's overjoyed to spend it at his Santa Rosa home.
Mark's the former No. 2 man at the FBI who resolved one of America's most intriguing secrets in 2005 when he revealed he was the secret informer who led Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward to crimes in the Watergate scandal that ultimately brought down President Richard Nixon.
Mark's daughter, Joan Felt, was readying plans for her dad's 95th birthday when he fell ill last week. He wound up at Memorial Hospital where doctors traced his symptoms to congestive heart failure.
Mark, at 95 a contented man who has forgotten most details of his FBI career and his great secret, wanted badly to go home. By Friday, he was feeling well enough that Memorial released him.
Joan Felt has scaled back today's party plans. Her dad loves music, so "Mr. Music" Jim Corbett and opera singer Bonnie Brooks and a few others will stop by to cheer and serenade him.
OLDER STILL: In last week's Sonoma Stories profile of the astounding 107-year-old Elsie Rich, I said the county's oldest person might -- might -- be retired Rosenberg's saleslady Jeanette Pluim. Jeanette's 110th birthday is Oct. 8.
I was pleased to hear from people fond of Noemi Anderson, a sharp and lively resident of Sunrise Assisted Living in Petaluma.
Noemi was born Sept. 28, 1897, so the Sunrise already is hatching plans for her 111th b-day.
Check out the Web site for the Gerontology Research Group (www.grg.org), and you'll see Noemi is listed as the 59th oldest person on Earth. That's up there.
EVER UPWARD: Author-adventurer Sean Swarner will speak Monday in Santa Rosa about obstacles that didn't keep him from reaching the top of the world.
He has climbed each of the world's highest peaks, especially impressive for someone who beat cancer twice and operates on one lung.
Marmot Mountain, the outdoor-gear manufacturer in Santa Rosa, is hosting Sean at 7 p.m. Monday at Sonoma Outfitters.
He said his goal in life, beyond conquering Earth's greatest physical challenges, is to "inspire people to motivate themselves, or to motivate them to inspire themselves."
ALOHA, DAN: Dan Berman, a culinary force in Sonoma County and a heck of a good egg, is going Hawaiian.
The former owner of Mixx Restaurant has resigned from Pacific Markets and will move to the Big Island with his wife, Kathleen, and son, Dakota. Daughter Alexa already lives there and attends U of H.
Don may teach or work at a market or restaurant. Regulars along Spring Lake trails will miss him as he sees how much of Hawaii he can run.