11-15-25 – This page is posted to thank Jim and Stephanie Holzemer for one of the finest anniversary gifts one can ever get – a bottle of the finest wine in history – Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Enjoy the pictures below and know that I opened this bottle before I learned it could be worth $2000. But that is OK, I just had a glass of the wine I have grown to love all because Jim and Stephanie gave me the finest wine they could find 21 years ago. And Darlene and I were amazed to find that the wine is ALMOST as good as imagine it was then.

I met Jim in 1967 on the famous Sun Valley Idaho ski train that ran from Los Angeles to Sun Valley each year. That trip was unforgettable – the train had a car with card tables and many skier spent the night playing poker. Sun Valley had a downhill race course that was used every year for championships and had a person at the bottom with a stop watch timing anyone who wanted to try their skill. I was on Kneissl White Star skis 110 cm long and they were FAST. I skied as fast as I could down the mountain and reached the flats just before the finish line and the timer cage. Just then I hit washboard – bumps in the snow that were about a foot high in waves just like a washboard. I crashed and was picking up my skis when the timing person yelled “pick up your skis and run!” I did that and ran across the finish line in such a short time that my total run time won me a bronze medal!

God bless Jim and Stephanie.

Amazing to see that today this vintage bottle is so popular on the net.

Here is the price for one of these today- yes $1,999!

Here is a look at skis nearly identical to those I used.