How did you first get into wine?

WINE TALK
1

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. What’s yours?

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2

Just moved to Naperville (17 years ago) and knew very little about wine. Saw “Wine for Dummies” at Borders, bought the book, read cover to cover, and then attended as many tastings as possible. Chicago Wine School next, attended various off lines, subscribed to the Wine Advocate, wine bulletin boards, etc. etc. and off I go!

Now, less wine activities; more kids activities…

Cheers,
JP

3

Purchased a ski house in Vermont on 1996. Seller left behind an old 100 bottle Le Cave wine cooler. I got the notion to fill it… Now with more than 1000 bottles in the cellar…Oh. I no longer own the Vermont ski house - ex got the house and the Le Cave. I got the wine and that is all she wrote.

4

Stationed in Franconia (think Frankenwein but we could get all kinds of Euro stuff at the class 6 store) for three years in the 70s. Never looked back…

5

Started drinking it as an alternative to beer about 11-12 years ago. Soon realized how huge, varied and incredibly interesting the world of wine is and haven’t looked back since.

6

Grew up with wine always in the house, always at the dinner table. My father was/is quite a wine lover. We grew closer while I was in law school over many good, mature bottles, having great, mature conversation. Now I supply him the good stuff. And we still have great conversations over good wine.

7

In my house growing up the only wine came from Chianti baskets and Gallo jugs. It wasn’t until I began working in restaurants in college that I began enjoying fine wine.

I had a roommate get in to a sticky situation and I bought a bottle of Opus and and bottle of Mouton Rothschild from him to give him the liquidity he needed. Those bottles, the Mouton especially, were a revelation.

8

A friend gave me a bottle of 2009 Kosta Browne pinot as a “thank-you” for a favor. I did some research and found out that it had was listed in Wine Spectator’s 100 best wines of the year.

So I was very excited to open/drink it. But, when I did, I didn’t like it much at all. So I started to read, stumbled across Alice Feiring’s natural wine book, sourced some Arnot Roberts and then some Lapierre Beaujolais (she mentions both at some length) and Bingo! another wine fanatic born.

9

Wine obsessed daughter of wine obsessed parents. Kind of born into it, I guess.

10

Great story Katrina!

11

Thanks, Roberto!

I now enjoy having the “Kosta Browne” friends over and plying them with new discoveries. So far, I’ve managed to turn them onto Huet and Wind Gap.

12

Wow, an AFWE commando! Love it…

13

I’ve heard moving to Naperville will cause people to drink heavily. [snort.gif]

14

:slight_smile:

I should add that the Kosta Browne didn’t get a fair shake. I stored it for 3 hot summer months in a cupboard that must have regularly hit 85 degrees or so…

15

Indeed! With all the drama that goes on here. I call it “Napertucky” for my northern suburb IL friends, since I am so far south…almost in Plainfield.

Cheers,
JP

16

I’m sure some would wager that improved it… [stirthepothal.gif]

Wandered into this new wine and beer store in town just after it opened and caught the microbrew bug. After a few years I started selling the beers better than the employees at the time so the owner hired me part-time. To get full time I had to learn wine. 16 years later I’m a full fledged double threat.

17

I had very little wine as a young adult, but since my ex-wife knew Michael Jordan, the Master Sommelier for Napa Rose (at the time), we scheduled an anniversary dinner at Napa Rose, that Michael designed for us through the staff that was there that evening. 6 courses, paired with wine of his and the server’s choosing (some courses were pre-set by Michael, others we chose and the server picked wines), and I was hooked.

I then found eRobertParker and Mark Squires’ wine forum, and spent all my time trying to learn about wine from the many folks there, taking trips to Santa Barbara several times a year, as it was ‘accessible’ wine country. I still love the wines from that region.

18

There is nothing wrong with enjoying Kosta Browne is there? I consider KB to be one of my fav CA PN but also enjoy wines from Loire and other regions.

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19

In my late teens, my brother and I started buying late 60’s Charles Krug cabs for $12-15 at a local store in the early/mid 70’s. We mainly drank Almaden half gallon white. But, we knew how good the Charles Krug was and did everything we could to scrape together the bucks.

Now I have spent a fortune on wine- a great past and a lot to look forward to!

20

I knew from a very young age that wine was something I wanted to know about. I started learning on the wine.woot boards and buying wines I didn’t love but thought I should (old world-style, oak is bad, no fruit bombs, low-level Burgundy, since I couldn’t, and still can’t, afford the good stuff). From there, I started watching winelibrary videos and learned a ton, joined those forums and learned a ton. Those boards led me here where I’m learning more. I got my dad into wine, although his interest isn’t nearly to the level that mine (and that of the rest of you nuts), though.