Happy Hour by Michele Scott Read Free Book Online Page B

knowing exactly how to pair Christian’s
delicious gourmet cuisine with spectacular wines. Kat and Christian have three
children between them, ranging in ages from six to fifteen. When not at the
restaurant, Kat is busy as a mom and wife.
    Kat’s favorite wine: “I love
Bordeaux style reds. Christian and I once had an amazing bottle of Chateau
Chasse-Spleen 1959. Best wine and night of our lives.”
    Alyssa
Johnson: Alyssa owns The Vine Gallery in St. Helena. Not only does she own the
gallery, showcasing vineyard art, but she is also a wonderful artist in her own
right, as well as a community art instructor. She hosts a once-a-month wine
tasting and local artist showing.
    Alyssa’s favorite wine: “I enjoy a
good chardonnay. I know that’s not very interesting or vogueish, but it’s true.
And I personally am one of those people who like my chardonnays big, bold,
buttery, and oaky. To me, that is a signature California Chardonnay.”
    Then there is
me, Jamie Evans: I am the editor-in-chief here at Wine Lover’s Magazine. Besides
being an editor and writer, I too am a mom. My daughter is nine years old and
is the light of my life. I also take care of my mother-in-law, Dorothy, who
used to date big-time movie stars back in the day, leaving never a dull story
to be told in my home.
    My favorite wine is Viognier. I
like the slight floral tones and the crispness of this soft white on a hot
summer’s day.
    There you have it, the ladies of Happy
Hour. I hope you’ll enjoy this monthly column about wine, food and friendship
as much as I think I’m going to enjoy writing it. As always, we at Wine
Lover’s love to hear from our readers.
    Cheers!
    Jamie Evans
    Editor-in-Chief
    ***
    That was it . Jamie wracked her brain, trying to come up with
something new and fresh at the magazine. Her boss—not a creative sort—took the tack
of breathing down her neck to bring up the numbers. She diligently studied the demographics
that were regularly buying the magazine and ran marketing surveys. As the
numbers and research came in, Jamie took note that nearly half of the
magazine’s readers were women. She understood the recipe part of the deal. The
magazine always printed fantastic recipes and food articles . But most of
the time even those were written with a slant toward men, like “Five Top Grilling
Meats,” or “Superbowl Sunday, Syrah and Snapper,” (the men in the office loved
that one, but it definitely hadn’t been one of Jamie’s ideas). The magazine
published plenty of articles on malolactic fermentation, organic growing,
cigars and wine, yachts and golf, and what wine to drink while yachting or
after golfing.
    Yes, there were plenty of testosterone-filled articles to feed any man,
but what was there for women? Almost half of the readers were women! This
excited Jamie. Surveys showed that women and wine went hand-in-hand, with the
liquid grape being the favored alcoholic beverage amongst the female set. Not
to mention that more and more women were involved with making wine, marketing
wine, and everything that went with and concerned wine. That was why and how
Jamie came up with the idea to do an article on up and coming Women in the
World of Wine. She chose to address it from the local aspect and started making
calls. No better place to begin than in her own backyard of Napa Valley.
    Her first call went out to Danielle, who she’d met at a charity event for
lung cancer. Since divorcing The Bastard (a name they all agreed on when it
came to Danielle’s ex, Al. Kat’s ex held the privileged title Sperm Donor), she
made the decision to finally pursue her dream of becoming a winemaker, a plan
she’d squashed deep down for the past twenty years. When she was married to The
Bastard, he wouldn’t even listen to her winemaker dream. He laughed at her and
told her it was nice, but not realistic. Her job was payroll and raising the
kids.
    Danielle sulked for about three months, after discovering the other
woman . Then she