1995 Pride Mountain Reserve. I was 18 or so and largely drinking Ice House, Keystone, and Natural Light. Coors Light on payday. It was the first real “fine wine” my parents bought and shared with me. My prior wine experience had been limited to Sutter Home, Fat Bastard, Toasted Head, and on rare occasions, like Thanksgiving, a Ravenswood Zin. As you can imagine, I thought wine tasted like shit.
Then I had the Pride, and my world changed forever. Within five years I was collecting, working wine retail, and managing a great wine program at a restaurant. Now I just drink the hell out of it and am a boring lawyer. Still hooked though…and even more into it.
I’ve had four other wine epiphanies in the last two years.
1982 Pichon Lalande taught me that wine can transcend a mere sensory experience and become something far more engrossing
2010 JJ Prum Bernkastler Baadstube Auslese taught me just how incredibly enjoyable riesling can be
1997 Harlan Estate, 1994 Dominus, 1997 Abreu Madrona Ranch taught me that 15-20 year old Napa cabs can compete with the best 15-30 year old Bordeaux
1997 Jadot Chappelle Chambertin – Oh snap, now I get why people like Burgundy.
Some not recorded but steely dry and refreshing Frankenwein I had at a local wine fest (with great sausages, it was the combo that got me!) the second week I was in Germany in the 70’s.
90 Montrose for me. I remember being at the table and a friend poured it for me. I apparently flashed this silent, amazed look when I first sipped it and to this day I remember my wife looking at my face and saying “uh-oh”. How prophetic that was.
My epiphany wine was a 1961 Talbot . A dear friend brought it to a wonderful restaurant in Santa Monica…the “Chronicle.” Unfortunately, the restaurant no longer exists as this was very early in the 1980’s. The restaurant may be gone but the memory still lingers.
1990 Stag’s Leap Cask 23. I had merged my company and my new partner started ordering this for our officer’s holiday party. I was pissed off since I only drank beer and realized I was paying half of each bottle. Decided to try it.
That cost me a fortune.
A second epiphany was when my wife trotted out a bottle of 1970 Petrus that she had bought for our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple.
I had already drunk Dom Perignon ('98) and Stag’s Leap Cask 23 (I forget the vintage) on special occasions, and although they were excellent and memorable, they did not trigger the berserker gene. That took a couple more years. What did was nothing fancy or legendary, just a 2006 Mascarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. It was only $10-11 and nothing special; I picked it up on the way home from work. It was just the right wine at the right time, and I thought to myself (finally!), I really want to learn a little more about wine…
1992 Arrowood Merlot - drank with friends at a restaurant, and was just floored by how delicious it was. Loved those Arrowood wines back in the day.
1995 Selbach-Oster Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese - bought for a German wine “party” where each couple brought a wine with a different pradikat. I bought the Selbach because it was the last one on the shelf, so (as I knew nothing about German wine at the time) I figured it must be pretty good. It was absolutely, mind-blowing spectacular, especially to someone who had little experience with the wines. An obsession was born that day. The bottle had pretty much the same effect on my wife, though her enthusiasm cooled as the credit card bills rose. In 2003, when we were visiting Germany, the late Hans Selbach listened to us tell our tale of how we became Riesling fanatics, and opened a bottle of the same wine for us to share with him.
A 1990 Brunello, don’t remember the producer. My girlfriend (now wife) & I drank it together in 1997 while out to dinner at Genoa (a Portland restaurant). We’d been given a generous gift certificate (both the restaurant & the wine were out of our price range) & we decided to splurge on a wine. The waiter recommended the Brunello & it blew us away & led to my obsession. That was definitely one of the world’s most expensive free bottles of wine…
A total epiphany wine for a budding wine drinker. I was straight out of law school and bumping up my wine consumption and what I was willing to spend on a bottle. It was $89.99 then (1993), which was painful, but I wanted to try it, after having had the basic domaine cab of that same year.
I also have to toss 1991 Dalle Valle and 1990 Ch. La Louviere into the mix, which followed on the heals of my epiphany. Wonderful wines. Impactful wines, then.
I had all three of those wines multiple times through the '90s, and they always impressed. Still wish I had saved some of the DVs from the incredible '91-'94 era.
A pristine bottle of 1990 DRC Echezeaux in 2000 showed me why such Burgs. are so revered, with amazing depth, complexity and secondary nuances, thus starting my true descent to the dark side…
Bordeaux (which I don’t drink any more)–either 1970 (one of the good bottles) or 1978 La Mission.
Burdundy (which I do drink)–1990 Vogue Musigny on release. (the wine I don’t think has held up, but on release, at least at the time, it was stunning)
1990 LLC is one of my favorite wines ever. I only tasted 1982 PL once many years ago and that experience ranks behind the 75, 79, 83, 85, 86 and similar to the 89. I really think I need to try it again…
Probably a Raphet Clos de Beze (97?)–my first Grand Cru red Burgundy. A Montrachet (don’t know the domaine name or the vintage but had it in early 1970’s) was an ephiphany for white wines.
You need to try it again if the bottle you had was inferior to the 75, 79, 85, and 86. I’ve not had the 83 or 89, but the 82 is the best wine I’ve put in my mouth…and on a quality ratio of DRC v. Gallo Hearty Burgundy compared to the 75 and 79 (and I enjoyed those wines).
epiphany: a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.
Most of the wines named would [EDIT: not] be simple, homely, or commonplace experiences.
Most of the posters have not shared the nature of their sudden perception or insight.
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, Wine Doesn’t suck afterall”