What's the wine that changed your life?

I was always interested in hearing which bottle made you think about wine differently.

I will say that a 1996 Calon Segur initially got me really into wine, but a 2009 Wild Duck Creek Shiraz Reserve completely changed me.

1974 Ridge Monte Bello

1989 Pichon Baron.

1996 Dalla Valle cab

2005 Jamet Côte-Rôtie, in 2009. I had no idea wine could taste like that.

Still searching for that heart of gold…and I’m getting old.

Jerome, it was a 1992 (?) Cain Five Meritage blend. I wasn’t in the hobby yet, but it was my first oh my roll eyes wine experience.

Welcome to Berserkers.

1990 Joseph Drouhin Bonnes Mares

Without a doubt, the 2000 Tondonia rosado gran reserva that I had for my birthday at Rialto restaurant in Cambridge MA. It opened my eyes (not to mention nose and palate) to entire worlds that I didn’t know existed.

1978 Chateau de Beaucastel

1991 E Rouget Echezeaux

1983 Guigal La Mouline in 2000.
Like Vince, to me, it revealed a new and magical world: as good as great fiction but divinely of this world.
16 years on I recall its saline, roasted meats and rock with exquisitely fine and course tannins. It was a wise and fit mountain man; a perfect marksman and writer of classics.

1970 Phelan Segur

1982 L’Evangile

'74 Heitz Martha’s

1974 or 1975 Wente Chenin Blanc. It was the first wine I bought that was varietal labeled and cork finished, and the first step of a long road.

There really wasn’t only one bottle that converted me to a wine collector.

2000 Ruffino Riserva Ducale Oro and 2001 Arrowood really started my shift to wine back when beer was my main drink. Before that, I might have a glass once in a while, and do remember liking earlier Arrowoods - just not as much as the 2001.

1996 JC Pichot Les Larmes de Bacchus turned my wife and I on to white wine that wasn’t dry. Up til then, we thought all whites were either too acidic or cheap sweet stuff. Then came JJ Prum on a recommendation and now 1/3 of the cellar is Riesling and Vouvray.

1993 Ponsot Clos de la Roche made me sell off 4 cases of Cab to fund more Burgundy.

Heitz Martha’s Vineyard 1985 and Caymus SS 1990, consumed on the same night. Finesse and balance (Heitz) vs. power and fruit explosion (Caymus).

83 Heitz Martha’s Vyd

Back in '87 I’d been drinking $4-$6 zins and this wine just blew me away. Wasn’t the best HMV ever made, but it was a huge step up from what I had been drinking.

1975 Beaulieu Private Reserve Cabernet. My father had three cases and would open a bottle every few months. I saw how this wine changed as it aged, from youth to maturity and beyond.