Poor Joe Phelps has to operate on only a 500% mark up-----did one of his
construction jobs go sour?

I had reservations for Mustards(1984? 49er won super bowl) when the lady
giving the tour asked me if I want to have potluck dinner with Joe. I said
sure, thinking one day I'd do a book. Well I got there and Joe wasn't there
but I was kibitzing with some ladies who worked on the crew, dinner was for
the all the workers, cellar rats, tour guides. About half way through the
meal when people got up to grab a new dish, I saw the lady who invited me
ask the two ladies adjacent to me to find another seat. We had a very nice
talk and had a nice time afterwards.

I was flying the next day--after all I was 5-6 with a 56inch waist, food
stains on my shirt, a scraggily beard, long hair. I was not anyone's prize.
The lady was an attractive pr person, so I new Parker but I stayed clear of
his business just passing along messages like" he(Parker) didn't review my
cab, why?I" Other then a rather spare compilation of my ratings on wines
tasted 1978-1982 that sold in the low teens, I was of no use to the Phelps,
the store I worked for had limited allocations of Eisele, Backus & Insignia
and the owner did not buy the rest of line in protest. Almost all the time I
had to forgo wines allocated at 1/2-2 cases. The store would rather
allocated wines go to customer & not down my gullet. But when my
appointment was setup by the wholesaler, it was made clear that I was just
weekend help and not the buyer. They were left to find out for themselves
how loaded and insignifigent I was at that time.

Anyway, thanks to my new friend I got to have dinner with the lady, her kids
& Bruce Neyers in a French nouvelle place near Fisherman's walk.

Nothing ever came of the relationship--I wrote and called a few times but I
was yesterdays news. I never found out what that dinner & later stops were
about. In no way I was a Norman Mailer when I talked. I was 150% about wine
& food, food, and food to other people and an a one trick pony after all.
Tom S" > wrote in message
m...
> "Hunt" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Your mention of the Eislie and Phelps, made be take a look in the
> > cellar. I still have a few of those from the end of that era, plus some
> > older
> > Backus/Phelps. I see that he's back with Backus fruit, but I have not
> > tried
> > the newer ones.
>
> Phelps had been buying fruit from the Backus Vineyard for quite awhile -
> since the 1970s anyway. They finally bought the vineyard a few years ago,
> and the wine is now their flagship. It's 100% Cabernet, and the 2001 I
> tasted at the winery with Ian & Jacquie was magnificent! Unfortunately,
it
> was also $150. :^(
>
> Tom S
> www.chateauburbank.com
>
>