I turn 30 today which apparently means I’m officially old. I thought it would be fitting to share what wine has taught me over the last several years and how thankful I am to have wine, and all that it brings, as a part of my life.
I started collecting and throwing myself headlong into wine 3 years ago and I cannot relay how thankful I am to have discovered the virtues of this wonderful beverage. It is truly magical for so many different reasons aside from the juice itself. It has given me great friendships, memories, stories, conversations, meals, and even the occasional argument! No single man made object that I can think of inspires so much passion and vivacity in people. Wine has even brought my family closer together.
Knowing that wine means all these things to me I would like to share a story of true generosity. My wife is ITB here in Napa (her family owns Pahlmeyer) and she just got back from an extended sales trip along the East Coast. We are planning on dinner tonight at La Toque and I was fretting all weekend over what to bring to drink for this occasion. I had narrowed it down to one of the following 99’ Orne, SQN Atlantis Fe Syrah, 05’ Marcassin, 97’ WS Hirsch, or 97’ Dalla Valle Cab. I was going to let my wife pick but on the sidelines my good friend kept saying you have to order a birth year wine. Of course I would love to do that but at $400 for the cheapest 82’ Bordeaux off the list I wasn’t feeling it. What I really dreamed about drinking was the 82’ Mouton…
So I picked my wife up at the local airporter last night and started to ask her opinion about the above wines. As I went through each choice she remarked how nice each wine would be etc etc. Finally she said she had a suprise for and it may trump all those wines. My mind began racing… We finally got home and she told me to close my eyes and proceeded to place a bottle of the 82’ Mouton in my hands! I was totally floored by her caring and rememberance of my dream wine. Of course my very next thought was I am going to kill her if she paid what I think she paid for this. In fact she didn’t pay for it a kind hearted wine lover gave it to her!!! She was at an auction/winemaker dinner event in DC on Sunday and as the auction lots were rolling by a bottle of 82’ Mouton came up for bid. She remarked to the older gentleman who was sitting next to her that it was her husband’s dream wine and his 30th was on Tuesday etc…nothing more than polite conversation. The man, taking this all in, says he in fact was the donor of the bottle being auctioned and that he had several more bottles which he bought on release and if she wanted he would GIVE HER ONE! Totally floored she accepted.
This is what wine is all about…the experience of sharing the joy of a great bottle with someone else. The fun of making new friends and connections across age, race and gender. I am truly thankful to have discovered wine and all the joy it has brought to my life and I wanted to share yet another wonderful experience that wine has brought to my life. So tonight as I open my very first Mouton I will raise my glass to all those things which wine represents to me.
That wine is a very young 30 (hopefully like you, and I’m guessing like your wife given how she charmed that gentleman out of a bottle).
It may be quite tight and tannic when you open it, so plan to give it time to develop as it seems to need. The one time I had that at a tasting (maybe 3 years ago?), it wasn’t aerated in advance, and even over several hours it only began to come out of its shell. Of course, bottles of that age vary pretty widely in how advanced they are, so your experience may be different, but do allow for the possibility, as you don’t want to miss what that wine has to offer.
Fantastic note Jim and thanks for sharing. I agree, that wine has shown a side of generosity I didn’t think was so common but seems to be intrinsic amongst wine lover circles. When I was a young pup just getting into wine in my early 20s, I drank well beyond my means due to the generosity of others. It’s something I look to give back in kind. I hope the bottle shows wonderfully for you, please do post notes.
I agree that the generosity of wine community has been the best part of my wine journey so far. I’ve met phenomenal people in the Bay Area but also in other cities who have taught me so much just because of their kind nature and their interest in the subject.
Nice story and I hope the 82 Mouton shows all it can tonight on your birthdya. I had an 82 Bordeaux tasting a couple weeks ago with ALL the big guns including Petrus and the Mouton was the consensus wine of the night by a good margin. I double decanted it at home for a couple hours so maybe you might want to consider that. And dinner at La Toque is the perfect place to take a great bottle. When Ken Frank had La Toque in LA I ate there at least once a week, and took several great bottles there, including the '47 Cheval Blanc (yes, a real one!) for my 40th. If you have a chance, please say hello to Ken for me.
Thanks all for the nice replys. I will definitely take the advice and decant a couple hours before dinner! Jerry I will be sure to say hello to Ken for you.
The '82 Mouton is my favorite left banker of all time. I had two bottles of it two years on my very close friend’s 40th birthday. It was drinking spectacularly well. I was blessed to try it once before that, and that bottle was singing, too. Happy birthday, Jim, that’s quite a surprise.
Here is my tasting note from the 82’. What a great experience.
This was opened at La Toque for my 30th birthday. Opened at 8:30pm and decanted for 1 hour prior to drinking. The somm poured a bit in the glass as a sample. Very tight and closed at first. However after 20 minutes this becomes a mind blowing wine. In many ways for me the aromatics surpass the palate however the finish makes this wines absolutely wonderful. On the nose it is almost like a perfume it is so pungent. Cedar, mint, mushroom, roses, blueberry and cherry notes. There is even a meaty aroma that emerges with time. The palate is a bit thin but still complex with herbs and some cherry notes with a nutty flavor. The finish is ridiculous it doesn’t ever really stop you just move on and forget it is still going. It keeps unfolding for at least 1 minute.
I saved a glass for the next day and returned to it for lunch. 15 hours open and NO FADING which is a testament to the greatness of this wine. Same flavors and components as described above.
Jim, what a heart warming story. I too drink beyond my means due to the generosity of my wine drinking friends. It is not say that I don’t have or share great bottles, but I would never be able to enjoy the greatness of many of the wines I have tried without their largess. Of course, the down side is that once I have one of these memorable bottles, I am haunted by it forever.
Welcome to the board, happy 30th. Your wife poured some wine for me the other day at the barrel tasting in dc ( I think). It’s a small community so enjoy and pop some bottles !
I’m not gonna lie when the cork was popped on the 82’ I couldn’t help but think about the authenticity of the bottle. Like so many others have said on this board unless it is direct from the source with bottles like this you will never truly know. I suppose in circumstances like this ignorance is bliss.