Month: September 2019

At 9:06am EDT on 9/11/01, the first plane flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. I had come into the office early on the West Coast and a trader said that a plane had flown into the North Tower. I said it had to be a private plane as no planes are allowed to fly over Manhattan. She had heard from Cantor Fitzgeralds’s office in L.A. and that it definitely was a commercial jet. In disbelief, I switched my screen to Bloomberg TV. Almost immediately, I saw the second plane bank and come around and into the South Tower. It was horrifying and mesmerizing.

Later, we heard about the Pennsylvania crash thanks to the heroics of a few passengers, and then the one that hit the Pentagon. It was a horrifying day. I watched a trading screen go blank and a woman who covered me from the firm was not heard from for two weeks. Unlike Cantor, on the 102nd floor, that lost 658 people that day, TradeWeb lost none due to being lower in the building and a manager who told them to leave immediately. She said she could see the building from her apartment and it was a beautiful day which ended with her walking home across the Brooklyn Bridge with the WTC behind her. Every morning she had to look at the rubble of a once beautiful skyline. She was suffering from PTSD.

Last Sunday, I heard a man saying he and his family were on the way to Windows On The World for breakfast and close to going in the building. He could hardly finish his statement.  Last year, I had breakfast with Kevin Zraly who managed WOTW. He was late to work that day and arrived shortly after the plane struck. He was in charge of the wine cellar and is one of the most knowledgeable people I know on wine. He suffered PTSD from his guilt that all of his employees died that day and he should have been with them. It took years of therapy during which he couldn’t even look at a glass of wine. He is better now but still has flashbacks.

This is one of the events I remember vividly. I also remember JFK’s assassination, then watching Jack Ruby assassinate Lee Harvey Oswald while in custody, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. Some things just stick with you…sadly.

Make the most of each day…it might be your last!

Trader Bill

Copyright 9/11/19

First, my sincere apologies to my readers (honk, if you’re still here!), for my lack of writing. A lot has been going on and I have been focusing on my book project, Wine and Passion. The book is not so much a wine book as a look at the passion of the winemakers I  have met over the past five centuries…oops, decades! I would hope that people consider them rather than the critics ratings but that is up to you, dear reader.

I also must admit to writer’s block and the evil: procrastination. But there was one more event that sidetracked me from mid-July to late August: our 50th anniversary (yes, it coincides with my serious interest in wine!), which consisted of a 5,000 mile driving trip to Portland (mostly along Hwy 12: the Lewis and Clark Trail; then down to Southern Oregon where, along the way we drove right through a forest fire on I-5, halfway to Jacksonville; then down to Reno where we lived for five years in the late 70’s and early ’80’s. Hot August Nights, the largest street car show in the country was going on! From there we drove to Lake Tahoe and stayed at a friends place at Fallen Leaf Lake, at the southern end of Tahoe. There we celebrated our 50th along with most of our relatives.

Driving back we drove across Nevada on I-80 stopping at Wells. We had planned on staying in Wendover on the Utah border but room rates were $200-300 a night! In Wendover? You have to be kidding, right? Wrong, it was the beginning of Bonneville Speed Week, so we stayed in a very nice ’50’s style motel in beautiful downtown Wells.

The next day we stopped at Bonneville then drove across the beautiful mountains of Utah and finally stopped in Gillette, Wyoming, and after a long 700 mile drive home to Excelsior, MN, on beautiful Lake Minnetonka, the next day. Four days and three nights out and three days and two nights home.

Our drive on scenic Hwy 12, the only road maintained by several states that is funded by the federal government, reminded us of how we have lost something in an era of 70-80 mile speed limits on the interstate where the goal is simply to get from point A to point B as fast as possible. Think about that the next time you take a trip and take at least a few side roads.

Finally, what wine did we have for our 50th? First, I brought over a case of wine with us but the gem was a magnum of Bonny Doon 2012 Le Cigare Volante by my friend and one who will be featured in the book, Randall Grahm, one of the great California winemakers! It was fantastic and enjoyed by all.

Well, tomorrow is 9/11 and I will have a different kind of column for it.

Until then, go drink some wine!

Trader Bill

Copyright, September 10, 2019