Saint-Émilion or Bourgogne?
I sat at the bar of the New York hotel at Disneyland Paris. I am usually very boring with cocktails, most of the time I get a Negroni. But today I went to have an Americano. It has fewer calories than the Negroni since the soda water is in the place of gin. It is larger as well and more refreshing. Due to a slight compulsion I have, I wanted fewer calories. This is because I had surgery, stopped exercising for several weeks, and felt my lower belly swollen. It was partly due to the pause of exercise and partly due to the procedure, which required my abdomen to be inflated during laparoscopic surgery. I sat at the bar after raising Thor's hammer sitting at the entrance of the bar. The waiter asked me to. After asking if I am a marvel fan. I am. It was easy to pick up. So easy that I put it back and tried to lift it in different ways to see whether there is a hard way to raise it. There wasn't one.
In front of me, behind the bar there was a huge screen with the Avengers tower. The image was static, and every few minutes the Avengers plane would pass, making a soft whooshing sound.
Then I noticed the wines and I wanted a red one. Perhaps because it had rained earlier and felt still damp as I had gotten soaked. There were two wines that I narrowed it down to. A Saint-Émilion and a Bourgogne. I asked the barwoman, and she offered to let me try a sip of each. There is often a certain energy around bartenders that I enjoy.
She opened the Bourgogne, and it released a sharp, pressurized sound, like opening a bottle of champagne. She poured it down the sink and opened a fresh bottle. It had gone bad. At that moment, I began to wonder whether people actually ordered wine at the bar. If not, the bottles might sit too long and my decision of getting a red wine might have not been the best one. But I stayed with it. I tasted the Saint-Émilion and it had a touch of more tannins than what I feel comfortable with. After tasting the freshly opened Bourgogne I was sure this would be the choice for the night. It was lighter than the other one, but it was perfect to accompany my reading. It was a 2023 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits. In the end ordering wine proved to be the right decision.
I was not sure I wanted a second one. The barman asked me if I wanted something more; I declined. Then the barwoman asked if I would like another glass. A better framed question. I agreed almost at once. The book I was reading, Python's kiss kept me engaged and I wanted to read more. The wine accompanied the reading inevitably.
I noticed that more and more people started ordering red wine. I was the first one when I arrived. Is there a red wine domino effect? Maybe.
The barwoman was cleaning the bar in front of me. She had a triangle tattoo with footsteps next to it. Another tattoo showed a skeleton with a snake entering its eye sockets. I love tattoos and every year I convince myself with all seriousness I will finally get one; yet the year passes and I do not.
A waiter opened the emergency exit. Rain was falling heavily outside. It was louder than the room. The sound came first, and then I turned my head toward it. It felt unexpectedly beautiful. The door was slightly open and light was coming inside the low-light bar. I could see the rain meeting the warm light reflected on the ground, ripple and then vanish.