The Origin Story
A tale of wine, cheese, and car keys
The Wine Tasting
It was a Saturday evening at the prestigious Oakwood Valley Wine & Spirits Expo. Karen arrived armed with a tasting journal, three different palate-cleansing crackers, and a plan to work through every Pinot Noir in the building. She'd done her research. She had a route mapped.
Steve arrived because his buddy Craig told him there'd be "free cheese, dude, like a LOT of free cheese." Steve didn't even know the event had wine. He walked past fourteen tasting stations and went directly to the charcuterie corner, where he proceeded to build what witnesses later described as "the most architecturally ambitious cheese plate this venue has ever seen."
The Bottle Incident
After her seventh tasting, Karen found herself at a self-serve station with a particularly stubborn bottle of Bordeaux. She tried the corkscrew. She tried brute force. She tried reasoning with the bottle. The bottle was unmoved.
Steve, having exhausted the Gouda selection and beginning an expedition toward the Gruyere, noticed the struggle. Without a word, he walked over, pulled out his car keys, and — using a technique he later described as "something I saw on YouTube at 2 AM" — popped the cork in one clean motion.
Karen stared. Steve shrugged. "I'm better with bottles than conversations," he said. It was the most charming thing anyone had ever said to her, mostly because it was true.
The First Date
Steve, in a move that surprised everyone including himself, actually called. Three days later. (Craig had to physically dial the number.) He suggested La Fromagerie — an entire restaurant dedicated to cheese. Karen, who had been expecting something like "drinks at that bar near my apartment," was genuinely impressed.
Steve ordered the five-cheese tasting board with the confidence of a man who had finally found his calling. Karen ordered a bottle of wine. Balance was achieved.
He taught her the difference between Camembert and Brie. She taught him that wine isn't "just grape juice with an attitude." He laughed at every one of her jokes. She noticed he hadn't looked at his phone once. By dessert — a cheese plate, obviously — they both knew this was different.