Sancerre and grilled shrimp

I spilt olive oil on the green rug in the kitchen, but went off anyway to the dining room with a plate of lightly spiced grilled shrimp in one hand and a green-labeled bottle of 2005 Réserve Spéciale from Pascal Thomas of Chavignol in the other.

The first time we were in Chavignol, in June, it was sweltering, and inside: gloriously cool. Thomas served us glass after glass of his different cuvées. We bought two cases of this one. Its radiant minerality on a canvas of white flower fronds with a little drip of honey is more than quaffable, it's almost dishonest. It leads to excess.

Afterward, dutifully, I threw the rug in the washer along with a white bathmat. Now the bathmat is as green as the kitchen rug, as green as the devilish Réserve Spéciale label...