The ‘trapped by lists’ thread made me think of this. Mine goes something like this:
A 1982 bottle of Montelena Estate cabernet was the wine that got my 20-year-old self hooked. Spent my early 30’s drinking my way through all the best California zinfandel I could find. Late 30’s spent searching for great California pinots & cabs (and wondering how I ever got into zin in the first place). Now in my 40’s, Pegau, Mouton, Angelus, Las Cases and Ch. Margaux have made me rethink everything. My bank account continues to suffer.
I drank my first bottle of wine in Italy when I was in my 30’s, it was a Gaja Barbaresco, don’t recall the vintage, but it was exquisite.
The next 20 years and way too much money have been spent trying, mostly without success, to recapture that experience.
Nah, around here, it is READING more than five sentences that appears to dull the senses and render further opinion invalid. But let us not hijack Paul’s thread with this banter…
Phase 1 - cheap, sweet, drunk, hangover headaches
Phase 2 - inexpensive, oaky, jammy, drunk
Phase 3 - introduced to balance, acidity, gaining experience, expanding the palate, not necessary to get blasted to enjoy
Phase 4 - starting to gain a better appreciation for “the good stuff”, traveling on wine specific vacations, meeting like minded individuals
Phase 5 - starting my WSET level 3 class next week
When I was three, my father used to have wine tasting parties and i would finish glasses and tell people “red wine goes with meat and white wine goes with fish” like a good monkey. Began working as a cook in college, travelled to Napa after college, fell in love with wine and began buying a few older bottles here and there in medical school. Became a cocktail geek, and a whiskey geek, started brewing beer and rediscovered wines at the hands of friendly wine geeks and the small and often questionable cellar my father left. Eventually, having finished residency, thought I could actually support a wine habit. Then I had a child and realized I was wrong.
When I was young wine was a part of our family dynamic, my especially enjoying choosing the wines for our large Italian gatherings and would often let me try them. As a teenager, and later, as a college student, while attempting to woo women, I tried to learn as much about wine as could, mostly to appear more cultured or mature on dates (there’s some not so subtle subtext here). After college I spent some time traveling and working, in places like France and California, and grew a greater appreciation for wine and decided to make it my career. I built a small, but relatively successful, local business for eight years, ended it when the economy changed, switched to private consulting and then switched to beer. Some of my best friends have come from relationships I’ve made during my time in the wine world so I am happy for my time spent in it.
I’ve drunk wine from Tucson to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonapah.
Drunken every kind of swig that’s ever been made.
Driven the back roads, so I wouldn’t get breathlyzed.
And if you give me … weed, whites, and wine.
And you show me a sign, I’ll be willin’ to be drinkin’.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}