It was an evening of wine and cheese at the Melee Vineyards in Nippy Valley, celebrating the winery's tenth anniversary. Owner Malcolm Melee took great pride in pouring his world-famous Melee Cabernet, the wine that tickles the palates of wine connoisseurs around the globe.
Over the past decade, his small operation has built a record of supplying a quality product, even though Melee's surly personality had produced more adversaries than advocates.
The celebration was open to the public and the assemblage included both his supporters and detractors, some of whom openly expressed their opinions about his business practices. Melee simply laughed off all negative words, even dismissing the notion that someone was determined to end his reign as cabernet king.
As the gathering broke up about midnight, Melee bade "farewell" to everyone and said he would stay around to turn out the lights. But this morning, it became deadly obvious that someone had planned lights out for Malcolm Melee, for his body was found at the bottom of the staircase that leads to the oak casks in the wine cellar.
Someone had put the cork on Melee and taken action that would squeeze the winery's reputation.