ATLANTA -- The Burgundy Boys got to drink Friday night. Inside the Atlanta Braves' clubhouse, six glasses sat breathing while they awaited one of the founding members of baseball's most exclusive wine club. He had picked out the bottle, a $1,200 Bordeaux, appropriate to celebrate the occasion in which he happened to throw five no-hit innings in a World Series game. When he arrived, they lifted their glasses, clinked in the middle and toasted to the hero of the night.
"To Ian," they said.
Ian Anderson is 23 years old. He looks not unlike a college student who forgot to shave. Since he joined the Braves at the end of August in 2020, he has impressed his teammates in multiple regards. The most obvious is with his right arm, which unfurled an effectively wild and wildly effective array of fastballs, changeups and curveballs in the Braves' 2-0 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the World Series, staking Atlanta to a two-games-to-one lead. The other is as a connoisseur of fine wines. Behind the baby face and beard is a budding oenophile, one whose propensity to learn on the fly translates from mound to glass.
"He's an old soul," Atlanta reliever Luke Jackson said, "and he's got a good palate."
Though, sure, baseball has traditionally been more of a beer sport, the Braves -- an 88-win team that now stands two wins from its first championship in more than 25 years -- are used to subverting expectations. What started as a hobby of Braves special assistant Eddie Perez and Jackson turned more formal when, soon after his debut Aug. 26, 2020, Anderson started picking their brains about wine. This year, they planned which bottles to take on road trips. Teammates asked if they were starting a wine club.
"And we're like, yeah," Jackson said, "we're the Burgundy Boys."
There are certain rules by which the Burgundy Boys -- who include Anderson, Perez, Jackson, pitcher Drew Smyly, outfielder Joc Pederson and the occasional interloper -- abide. First and foremost: Drink only after wins. Had Anderson not gone out and finished the game with five no-hit innings -- only the second time in World Series history a pitcher had left a game having held an opponent hitless for that long, alongside Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956 -- the bottle of 2015 Chateau Lafite Rothschild would have remained corked.
Other traditions are important, too. Calvin Minasian, the Braves' head clubhouse attendant, readies the glasses and, if necessary, procures a decanter. ("Most Bordeauxs open pretty quick," Jackson said, so they didn't need one after Game 3.) Perez, a longtime coach with a 1,200-bottle cellar at home whom Jackson calls "our sommelier," always pours six glasses.
Anderson savored his pour Friday. With barely a full season in the major leagues under his belt -- he is still being classified as a rookie -- he added to an already-impressive postseason résumé. In eight postseason starts, Anderson has posted a 1.26 ERA, the third best for anyone since 1912 over that same stretch of starts to begin a playoff career. Manager Brian Snitker pulled Anderson after five innings and with his pitch count at 76 because only 39 of the pitches went for strikes and, with a light drizzle spitting on Truist Park all night, control, typically one of Anderson's hallmarks, was difficult to come by.
When it came to Friday's bottle selection, his aim was sure. Braves closer Will Smith offered Anderson his choice of three bottles. Anderson chose the Lafite, a cousin of the 2006 Chateau Mouton Rothschild they drank after their Game 1 victory.
There's a reason these experienced oenophiles trust Anderson's judgment on such an occasion: He didn't exactly arrive in the big leagues a rookie wine drinker.
Two offseasons ago, Anderson's twin brother, Ben, a minor league pitcher in the Texas Rangers organization, started working at a liquor store. While his parents enjoyed the occasional bottle of Apothic -- which is about 1/100th the price of a Rothschild -- Anderson learned from his brother what was good and what wasn't, impressing his wine sensei.
Since then, Perez and Jackson have helped educate him, too. Perez introduced him to Spanish wine, Perez's favorite. Jackson's tastes traversed the globe, though he had a special fondness for wine from Mendoza, Argentina, where his father cultivated a small vineyard. One offseason, Jackson spent two months there, making malbecs and blends, an amateur vinologist.
"It's an art," Jackson said. "It's not just, 'Oh, let's bring some wine and have a good time at dinner.' There's a story behind every bottle."
The story behind Game 3's bottle was simple. Anderson shut down the Astros' potent lineup, striking out four and walking three. A.J. Minter and Jackson followed with perfect innings to keep the no-hitter intact through seven. Tyler Matzek and Smith gave up one hit apiece, but neither did damage, and Atlanta weathered the weather to grab the series lead.
"This was a pretty big win for us -- for the pitching staff," Anderson said. "I wanted Luke to be able to enjoy it. Will bought it -- and he got the last out. And it was a good bottle, so that helps."
Joctober - winetober. pic.twitter.com/Wx9JNkdWpA
— Maria Martin (@Ria_Martin) October 24, 2021
Word of the Burgundy Boys is starting to spread. There are always club crashers looking to snake that sixth glass. Perez every year attends an offseason wine tasting to help the Braves pick what they'll serve in the stadium the next season. This year, he asked whether Anderson and Jackson could come and was told yes.
"Guess what we're talking about," Perez said as Snitker walked by after Game 3.
"Wine?" Snitker said.
"Yup!" Perez said.
"This is a good guy to talk to," Snitker said.
Burgundy Boys T-shirts arrived Friday, and Jackson said they plan to wear them during pregame warm-ups before Game 4. Pederson's friend Eric Jensen, who owns the Booker Vineyard in Paso Robles, California, sent a package to Truist, too: some celebratory bottles of his wine, which consistently scores in the high 90s on the 100-point rating scale.
Those will wait for another time, though. They already had their next two selections -- both Bordeaux, their postseason good luck charm -- picked out. If everything goes right, they'll uncork that final bottle, and as everyone around them is opting for Champagne, they'll lift their glasses one last time and toast to "The Burgundy Boys -- world champions."