Sweet Smell of Satisfaction
02/24/2017
As an unusually beautiful warm February comes to a close, I’ll reflect on how sometimes we want life to be predictable and then other times we are reminded of the joy we can receive from the unexpected. This past Valentine’s Day brought into Tarara the traditional vision of couples celebrating their love with an intimate bonding opportunity while sipping a bottle of our appropriately named Tranquility. Couples captured their romance with a photo in front of their names etched within a large heart on one of our chalkboards. These couples represented to me Valentine’s Day. Like every year, we know that red roses will be delivered, chocolates consumed, and couples will exchange cards and with any luck, diamonds! But a little more unusual, is to imagine that a couple could mean two sisters would take advantage of how Valentine’s Day can simply represent love. Any two people can come to our winery and embrace the happiness derived from caring deeply for another person and not necessarily be a traditional pairing.
Amidst the many couples that appeared at Tarara on the 14th of February, two unanticipated young women walked into our tasting room. When serving these women, they revealed that they were sisters maximizing their time together before the younger sister headed off to L.A. to film school hoping to become a movie director. Our conversation led to the older sister informing me that she worked for a perfume company and how there are parallels between the wine industry and scent world.
We started throwing out the comparisons between wine and perfume. People have the need to describe sensory experiences with descriptions for both wine and perfume that can have overlapping words like fruity, floral and citrus. Then there is an unlimited variety of scents or wines that can be chosen based on gender, season, age or PRICE! The one sister’s particular perfume company also encourages blending aromas to achieve the perfect scent. Physically, the tongue taste receptors and the nostril intake paths go in different arched directions but their destinations both end at the smell and taste center of the brain. Interestingly enough, at Tarara, servers do not wear perfume so as to avoid a conflict with the olfactory properties of wine.
As the closing hour of five o’clock approached and couples left to return home or continue on to dinner, the sisters remained. Their laughter and enjoyment of each other was too charming to rush them out the door. I couldn’t refrain from joining in on their conversation which ended with my insisting that the first movie of the youngest sister’s premier be held at Tarara. Then the sweet smell of the unexpected was shown in the form of gratitude. For Tarara’s hospitality, fourteen perfume samples were left as a tip.
Let me also use this opportunity to remind you that it’s not just on Valentine’s Day that we want you to show-up with someone you love. Come any day of the week. Make time to linger here. Inside we have the tasting room, bistro, Vine Club Lounge and soon to be opened, Greenhouse Garden. Outside on our 475 acres there is a deck overlooking the Potomac and picnic tables around Shadow’s Pond. Saturday nights can be spent at our concerts starting June 3rd. We have a wine for every palate and a place with unlimited possibilities for perfect unanticipated moments.
Thank you Sophie and Sarah, you made my Valentine’s Day unexpectedly wonderful!