14. EONIQ Alster | The Sommelier

With Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline playing in the background, the sommelier ceremoniously but efficiently uncorks a bottle of pinot noir which coincidentally bears her name.  The sommelier has just been to Germany recently to visit the winery, run by the award winning winemaker Caroline Diel for whom this pinot noir is named.  The sommelier is usually given samples of wine to try and review but she had decided to purchase a case of this wine herself.  A fine vintage, but it wasn’t just the wine itself that attracted her.  Most people have, understandably, a natural attraction to their own names. But for the sommelier, ever since the first time she’s heard the song on the radio at her neighbor’s house, she’s slowly developed an affinity to hers, which is what makes her birthday present even more special.

The sommelier doesn’t know anything about watches. In fact, she’s really just owned one watch, a diamond studded, Rolex Datejust in rose gold, a floral motif dial, and on jubilee bracelet which was given to her as a graduation present by her parents, who were successful restaurateurs in Australia. As she waits for the wine to breath in the decanter, she unwraps her birthday present from one of her dear friends, a custom made present, she was told.  She finds a watch, which, quite surprisingly has her name on the dial,  though on the watch box, the company’s name EONIQ is printed. With its 36mm size and rose gold plated case it looks great on her wrist. The Japanese automatic movement should prove to be dependable and accurate, the clarity of the sub-second dial, and the modesty of the understated German influenced design suit her much more than the Rolex.

Exactly half a century ago today the sommelier was born, in Australia to Chinese immigrant parents.  At the time of her birth, her parents were too busy making a living, running their restaurant that they had to leave the caring of the sommelier to their Australian neighbor. The neighbor was already in the late forties. Her youngest child had just moved out to go to university.  The neighbor was eager to have some company, to distract her from her now empty nest, since her husband had passed away a few years back.  The sommelier quickly bonded with the neighbor, and since her own grandparents weren’t around, began to see the neighbor as her surrogate grandmother.   The sommelier remembers vividly how, the neighbor always had a glass of red wine at dinner. She would ask to taste it, which the neighbor wouldn’t allow, but she would let the sommelier smell it, after swirling the glass for her, and encouraged her to describe the smells.  ‘Peach, strawberry, chocolate’, the sommelier would reply, thinking of all the smells of the foods that she enjoyed as a child. One day at dinner, to the sommelier’s surprise, in front of her, was a wine glass filled with what seemed like red wine. The sommelier took a sniff gingerly, and realized that it was grape juice.  That became their little ritual, whenever the neighbor would have a glass of red wine for dinner, the sommelier would also get a glass of grape juice. When she turned 18, the sommelier remembers showing up at the neighbors in the evening, after seeing friends. To her surprise, the neighbor was waiting for her, with two empty wine glasses on the table and a bottle of Australian Pinot Noir.  She remembers that was the best birthdays she’s had, having real wine for the first time with the neighbor and talking about her future dreams.

Ever since that birthday 32 years ago, it has been the sommelier’s ritual to open a bottle of pinot noir on her birthdays. The sommelier and the neighbor stayed in touch until she finished university. But then work took her to around the world. Occasionally, she would call to ask how the neighbor was doing. But the entire time the neighbor wanted to know was the sommelier’s adventures, and the wines she’s tasted. The sommelier promised to visit but work had kept her from doing so, as she became more and more sought after. Though she’s always thought one day she would share her collection with the woman who inspired her to follow her dream. 

The last time the sommelier saw the neighbor, she was already in the hospital, she’s been sick for a while but she’s never mentioned it. When the sommelier asked if there’s anything she can get for her, the neighbor, in a weak but cheerful voice said ‘A glass of wine would be lovely. All I get here is grape juice.’ ‘Sure, when you get better, I’ve got a whole collection for us to try together.’ Replied the sommelier, though she knew that it would never be. As she was being walked out by the neighbor’s daughter, the sommelier apologizes for not having visited sooner and that she’s lost touch. ‘Don’t be, mother is glad that you are doing so well.’ The daughter wraps her arm around the sommelier’s shoulder to reassure her. ‘You know, mother really thinks of you as one of her own, you know that? She was just telling me how she’s glad she named you Caroline, how she was happy that you came into her life.’ Sensing the sommelier’s surprised look, the daughter continues, ‘Oh you didn’t know? The year you were born, was when the song came out, your parents gave you a Chinese name of course but didn’t know what they should call you in English so they came to mother.’’

Soon after the funeral, the sommelier returned to her life in Hong Kong.

As the sommelier is listening to the lyrics of Sweet Caroline, wearing the Caroline watch, she begins to pour her first glass of Caroline pinot noir, smelling fragrances of her childhood and remembering the days when the neighbor would hold her hands, dancing with her so many years ago, whenever the song would come on the radio.