Behind Every Cloud

by Lawless, Pauline

  Ronan McIntyre had phoned for directions. He sounded like a lovely chap – quiet and well-spoken. He’d been given a gift voucher for the course for his birthday and he did appear to be very interested in wine. Sam was glad to have another male student there to balance out the women.

  He decided to put the two young girls who had been sent along by the supermarket chain sitting at the table with his two young employees. He didn’t hold out much hope for these two young ones. He’d found on previous courses that they had little or no interest in the subject. They were there because the supermarket paid for them and insisted that they attend. They would probably rather be almost anywhere else than listening to him expound on wine. Well, we’ll see, he thought. Maybe I’m wrong and one of them will turn out to be a model student. Anyway, he’d know soon enough. The first arrival was already ringing at the door.

  Ellie was the first to arrive. She had her hair up in a ponytail and was wearing pale-blue torn jeans and a denim jacket over a white T-shirt. Sam thought she looked rather like a schoolgirl let out for the night and would have demanded to see her ID if she’d attempted to buy liquor in any of his shops. He greeted her warmly and when she took off her jacket he looked at the logo on her T-shirt with interest.

  “Anything But Chardonnay,” he read aloud. “What’s all this about? What’s wrong with chardonnay?”

  “Isn’t it cute? I saw it in a shop last week and it reminded me of that snooty woman, Judith, telling me she ‘didn’t dochardonnay’,” Ellie replied, grinning. “I couldn’t resist buying it.”

  Sam roared laughing. “I remember that now,” he said. “And then I told you that the Chablis she was serving was in fact made from chardonnay grapes.”

  Now it was Ellie’s turn to peal with laughter. “Yes, I remember.”

  “Actually, I think maybe you should know . . .” Sam hesitated, not knowing quite how to say it. “I have to tell you that Judith is in fact my mother.”

  Ellie looked at him in horror, her face going pale. “Oh my God! Why didn’t you tell me that first night when I was going on about her?” she cried, mortified.

  “I was enjoying it too much. And anyway you’re right – my mother can be very snooty indeed.”

  “I’m so embarrassed,” Ellie said, putting her hands to her face which was now turning a bright red.

  “Don’t worry, I promise I won’t tell a soul,” he laughed, his eyes full of merriment.

  Of course! Sam Buckley – I should have guessed, Ellie thought.Buckley Steadman. Why didn’t I put two and two together? She felt really stupid! But, in fairness to her, he had been referring to them as Frank and Judith.

  Rachel bustled in looking as if she were going to a first-night theatre-opening. She was wearing a red silk suit and outrageously high heels and her hair and make-up were perfect. Ellie was relieved at the distraction.

  “Hi, I’m Rachel Dunne,” she introduced herself, shaking Sam’s hand and giving him a 100-mega-watt smile. She hadn’t been prepared for him to be this young or this attractive. He certainly didn’t look like a wine expert with his unkempt hair and casual denim shirt and jeans. She’d always thought that wine types were stuffy old men. What a nice surprise!

  “Welcome, Rachel – I’m Sam,” he replied, thinking that she looked even lovelier than her photos portrayed her. And what a figure! “And this is Ellie.”

  “Hi,” Rachelsaid, turning her attention to the young girl. Gosh, it was the beautiful young girl who’d come into the hair salon earlier that day.

  “Didn’t I see you in Rainbows hair salon in Sutton today?” she asked.

  “Why, yes,” Ellie replied, surprised that someone as well-known as Carl Dunne’s wife would have recognised her. Ellie had even voted for him in the election. He was divine! “Keisha is a friend of mine. I work in the beauty salon two doors down.”

  “Really! That must be very interesting.” Rachel smiled at her.

  Ellie didn’t have the heart to tell her that it wasn’t really all that hot.

  Sam showed them to their places and Ellie avoided his eyes, still embarrassed by his revelation.Shewas pleased to see she was sitting beside Rachel who was obviously very friendly. She sneaked another look at the older woman. God, she was perfect – so glamorous and not a hair out of place! Ellie felt scruffy beside her in her torn jeans and wearing no make-up except for mascara and lip gloss.She had to wear a lot of it at work so she preferred to let her skin breathe when not working. Now she regretted she hadn’t made more of an effort.

  There was a flurry at the door and Sam’s two young workers arrived along with the two girls from the supermarket chain.

  Gosh, they’re all kids, Rachel thought with dismay. She was only thirty-sixbut she was old enough to be their mother – and probably Ellie’s too for God’s sake!Then, as Sam was showing the young ones to the other table, Zita arrived. Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God, she thought, someone my own age. She gave Zita a dazzling smile as the other woman sat down beside her. Rachel had a feeling that she knew her from somewhere but couldn’t quite place her. She sighed. She was normally very good at remembering names and faces but she met so many people these days that it was getting harder all the time.She introduced herself to Zita.

  What luck, Zita thought – I’m sitting beside Mrs Prim-and-ProperDunne. Let the assault begin!

  Ellie thought Zita was very unusual-looking. She was wearing Doc Martens and a black leather biker jacket over a denim waistcoat and dungarees.But it was her eyes that were scary and sent a shiver up Ellie’s spine.They were watchful, like a cat’s, and Ellie had the strangest feeling that this womancould read her thoughts. Zita smiled at her as they shook hands but the smile never reached her eyes. Ellie was instinctively wary of her but Rachel didn’t seem to notice as she rattled on.

  Ronan was the last to arrive. The women admired the elegant quiet-spoken guy as he joined their table. Hmmm . . . he’s good-looking, Rachel thought, smiling at him. She’d always gone for quiet shy guys like this – until she’d met Carl, that is. No one could call Carl quiet or shy.Extrovert and gregarious more like! It looked like they were all present as there were no more chairs in the room and Sam had closed the door.

  The wine course was about to begin.

  11

  “Hi everyone, and welcome,” Sam began. “Firstly, I’d like to tell you a little about myself. I fell in love with wine when I was fourteen years old and went on a student exchange to France for a month where I stayed with a family in Bordeaux who owned a vineyard. I was fascinated by the whole business, not least because they allowed me a glass of wine every night with dinner which would have been enough for my parents to drag me home had they known about it.”

  Everybody laughed at this. They could very well imagine it.

  “Anyway, I went back every year after that,” Sam continued, “and before long knew that this was what I wanted to do with my life. To my parents horror, I left school in fifth year – I wasn’t exactly academic – and headed back to Bordeaux to work in the wine business. Five years and a lot of knowledge and contacts later, I came back to Ireland and opened my first wine shop. I now have ten shops, with two more opening shortly along with an online business.”

  They all looked at him in amazement.

  “My goodness!” Rachel exclaimed.

  “How did you get into running courses?” Ronan asked him.

  “Well, when I got back here I studied for two years for my wine diploma which allows me to lecture for the British Wine & Spirit Education Trust – or the WSET as we call it.”

  “I thought you said you weren’t academic,” Ellie joined in.

  “Believe me I’m not, but when you’re studying something you love, it becomes more like a hobby than hard work.”

  “Mmmm . . .” Ellie said, not convinced.

  “So about this course: it runs over eight weeks and at the end of it you should have a comprehensive knowledge of the world of wine and how it’s made. Each session consists of
an hour of tuition followed by an hour of tasting. I hope that at the end of it you will all have a deeper understanding of this wonderful beverage we call wine. You all have a pack in front of you.” He picked up Ellie’s one to show them. “It contains a manual, which covers what we’ll be doing, as well as a tasting notebook and some other info. You’ll also receive a box of six tasting glasses which are yours to keep. You’ll take them home with you this evening and please don’t forget to bring them next week.” He smiled around the room at them all.

  “Now, before we start, could I ask each of you to write your name, phone number and email address on this sheet of paper and I’ll make copies for everyone.” He handed the paper to Ronan. “Now I’d like you to introduce yourselves and tell me what it was that persuaded you to join this course? Can we start with you, Rachel?”

  Rachel nodded at Sam and smiled at the others as she rose to her feet. “Yes, well, my name is Rachel Dunne and I have two children: Jacob who’s almost eight and Rebecca – we call her Becky – who’s six. My husband has recently been elected to the Dáil.” She looked around to see if the others had already recognised her. To her satisfaction it seemed they had. “I’m here because I now have a lot of functions to attend and also entertaining to do and I know absolutely nothing about wine, except that I love to drink it.”

  The others smiled as she sat down with the exception of Zita who thought she might puke.

  Ronan was next. “My name is Ronan McIntyre and I’m a draughtsman with a small firm of architects. Like Rachel, I love wine but know nothing about it so I was thrilled when my brother gave me a gift of this course for my birthday. Mind you, I also love my pint of Guinness.”

  He sat down to the laughter of the group.

  Zita was next. “Hi, I’m Zita Williamsand I work in television. I’m interested in learning more about wine.” She sat down. Nobody laughed. There was something intimidating about her which was felt by all.

  “I take it you like drinking wine too, Zita,” Sam said. “Looks like I’m going to need more bottles than I’d bargained for tonight!”

  Everyone laughed again which lightened the atmosphere somewhat.

  Ellie was next. “Hi,” she began, beaming at Sam. “My name is Ellie Moran. I work in a beauty salon and I recently got engaged. My fiancé David is an accountant. We were at a dinner in his new boss’s house lately and I felt embarrassed not knowing anything about the wine. I met Sam there,” she said, smiling at him, her dimples making her even prettier, “and he told me about this course. So, voilá, here I am!” She lifted her arms up dramatically. “Oh, and yes, I love wine too except that it makes me very tipsy so it’s safer if I stick to beer and cider!”

  Everybody in the room laughed and smiled back at her, even Zita. She had that effect on people.

  Sam’s two young employees from his Malahide shop introduced themselves as Dave and Keithand it was obvious that they were enthusiastic and willing to learn.

  Lastly, the two young women from CashValue Supermarkets spoke. They were called Karen and Hayley. Karenspoke first.

  “I’d like to learn more about winebecause I work in the wine department of CashValue and want to be able to help customers choose the right wine.” She smiled shyly as she sat down.

  Hayley was the last to introduce herself and it was obvious to everyone that she wasn’t particularly happy to be there.She had been texting all the time that the others had been speaking. Now, her phone still in her hand, she told the assembled group that her boss had said she had to do the course. Her look told them that she’d rather be anywhere else tonight but here.

  The course began.

  Sam started by telling them about the different grape varieties and how they were grown. He explained it all so clearly and with such passion that he had his audience hooked. It was fascinating. The hour flew by and with the exception of Hayley who was texting under cover of the table, they all listened intently. Sam felt it was going to be a good group.

  “Right, we’ll take a fifteen-minute break now while I get the wines ready for tasting. If anyone needs to smoke, they can go outside, but I should warn you that smoking will interfere with your taste buds and therefore affect how you taste the wines.”

  Hayley didn’t seem to care and got up to go out, a pack of ciggies in hand.

  “C’mon,” she said to Karen who smiled apologetically at Sam.

  “We’ll just go out for a breath of fresh air,” Keith told him. “We won’t smoke.”

  Sam grinned at him. It was already obvious that Keith was interested in Karen.

  The other four sat and chatted as Sam opened bottles of wine.

  “Can I help, Sam?” Ronan asked him.

  “Thanks, Ronan. If you could take these boxes of glasses and put one in front of each place – that would be great.” Ronan did as he asked.

  “He’s fabulous, isn’t he?” Rachel whispered, nodding towards Sam. “He reminds me of Jonathan Rhys Meyers – you know, the actor guy?”

  “I thought that the first time I met him,” Ellie agreed with her. “Sam really knows his stuff. He makes it so interesting.” She was leafing through the literature he’d given them. “I can’t believe that there are thousands of grape varieties. I’ve only heard of four or five.”

  “Well, I know a few more but I could count them all on two hands.” Zita concurred.

  “He’s so passionate about wine, it’s catching.” Rachel observed. “I can’t wait to learn more.”

  “Yeah, I’m really glad I decided to come,” Ellie said as the four young ones came back in the room, Keith and Karen chatting animatedly together. Hayley looked as sullen as before.

  The second part of the evening was about to begin.

  “This next hour will probably change the way you look at wine forever,” was how Sam introduced the tasting session. They all looked at him expectantly, wondering what he meant. “You will never again be able to drink a wine without tasting it professionally and then analysing it.”

  He told them to take out their tasting glasses and line them up. When this was done he went around and poured two different white wines for each of them.

  “This is the part I’m looking forward to,” Rachel told them. “I’d like to learn to taste professionally, the way I’ve seen them doing on TV. I’ve no idea what to look for.”

  “Me neither, I haven’t a clue,” Ellie chimed in.

  Sam was familiar with this reaction. Most people, he found, had no confidence in their ability to taste.

  “You’ll be surprised,” he told them. “I want you to taste both wines and then tell me which youthink is the best.”

  They did as he asked. “Now, whothought the first one was the best wine?”

  No hands went up. Hayley was about to raise hers but, when she saw nobody else doing so she changed her mind.

  “And who thought the second one was the best?”

  Eight hands shot up.

  “You see, you can already tell the difference between a poor quality wine and a good one. Well done, everybody.”

  They grinned at one another, pleased that they’d got it right. Ellie gave a little laugh and didn’t feel so stupid any more. Rachel sighed with relief, knowing that she hadn’t made a complete fool of herself. For all her outward confidence and poise she was insecure underneath it and cared a lot about what others thought of her.

  “Tasting is a technique that I’m going to teach you,” Sam informed them.

  He then demonstrated how to do it, spitting into what looked like an ice-bucket when he had finished.

  “Now it’s your turn,” he told them. “We’ll start with the first wine. Take a sip – not too much – suck in air through it, roll it around your mouth and finally spit it out into the spittoon on your table – or swallow it if you prefer.”

  They did as he instructed, some of them almost choking at the effort. Then, as they spat, it came out in a dribble rather than in the expert way Sam had done it. Everybody laughed.

&nb
sp; “Don’t worry! This happens to everyone in the beginning. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough.” Sam smiled at them.

  He explained that wine was a very subjective thing andlearning to recognise quality was the key.

  “There are a lot of bull-shitters – excuse the language – out there, who purport to be wine buffs and all they do is turn people off. The important thing is what youfind in the wineand my aim is to teach you what to look for.”

  After that the mood in the room took on a party atmosphere as they tasted, swirled, mostly swallowed, and listened to Sam as he directed them. By the time they’d tasted the six wines – three white and three red – they were entering into the spirit of it and offering their opinions.

  “It tasted like cherries,” Ellie said of the last wine.

  “It has a bitter taste at the end,” was Zita’s contribution.

  “Terrific! You’re really getting it!” Sam glowed at them. “That perfectly describes it. It’s quite characteristic of Italian wines.”

  Ellie grinned at Zita who smiled back, both of them extremely pleased with themselves.

  By now they were all offering freely of their opinions. Rachel was so extravagant that when she mentioned “sweaty saddles” Sam suspected she’d been reading Oz Clarke.He tried to hide a smile.

  When the tasting was over he thanked them for coming, reminding them not to forget their glasses and book packs.

  “By the way, I’m looking for some temporary part-time staff for evenings and weekends at three of my shops,” he said, as he handed out copies of the list with everyone’s phone number and email address. “If any of you know anyone who might be suitable, then I’d like to hear from them. I always prefer to recruit my staff on recommen-dations.”

  “I don’t really know anyone,” Rachel murmured, shaking her head.

  “I have a friend who might be interested,” Karen said.

  “Good. Ask her to give me a call and mention your name, Karen,” Sam said, smiling at the young girl.