Back around the early 1960s there was a standup comic named Shelley Berman.  He used to do these telephone conversation monologues, a comedy format that was later furthered by Bob Newhart before his television days.

Anyway, Berman did a routine called “The morning after the night before,” in which a seriously hung over man calls up a friend whose party he had attended the previous evening, and discovers all the hilarious things he did while in a painless state of mind.

This isn’t like that.  Yes, it’s sort of the “morning after” the Wine Fest, and it’s pretty hilarious, but our memories are perfect, and very gratifying.  I’ve just been through some of the event photos, and all I could do was smile…at the fun everyone had, their generosity, and the overall high spirits which weren’t dampened in the least by the unfortunate rainfall. Fortunately, we had a tent, and I suppose we can overlook the fact that we all wound up with squishy footwear.

During the revelry, it’s easy to forget all the work that goes in to putting on an event of this caliber.  Dozens of people, dozens of meetings, and literally thousands of emails and phone calls.  We really did start preparing for it in April of 2009, and I’m sure that in April of 2010, we’ll start figuring out how to top it next year.  In fact, we already have a debriefing meeting set up for mid-March.  We’re pretty sure we avoided many of the mistakes we made last year.  We just made some new ones.

Although I try to avoid clichés, all I can say is that it was “all good.”  The auction lots attracted considerable attention (and many raised paddles), the vintners put out the good stuff, the guest chefs brought in a lot of awesome eats.  And the dessert spread Norman Love and Keegan Gearhard set up….well, over the top is hardly a sufficient description.

My cousins David and Caroline came down from New York especially for the event, and were more impressed than I could have hoped for.  They’re already planning to come back next year and bring friends.

So as of now, all the heavy boxes of wine are out of my office, out of my cellar, fading into dim and distant memory.  I’m glad to be rid of them, and even gladder that all of you were able to enjoy them.

Chris Tilley (L, Pauline Tilley, Caroline Levy, Debi Greenfield (standing)

This year was amazing.  The level of generosity and support was amazing.  But, in the immortal words of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”