I am sure that this probably has been addressed before, but couldn’t locate it. I have had discussions with wine friends over the years and inevitably the topic of “Which wine was the epiphany that got you into wine to begin with?”. Where and how did that happen?
The answers were all over the map and actually educated me on some wines I might not have considered.
For me, dare I say it was 1995 Opus One…(I know I know…please don’t flame me, I learned 
I was never into wine in my younger years . In high school we would grab riunite , booms farm , mateaus (I think) , blue nun, black tower …well you get the idea. It was not a wine person and defaulted to beer.
Fast forward many years later, I close a big business deal and take the executive out for dinner in Houston, Tx. He was a C level executive for a big company and I knew he was a big wine drinker.
I told him to order any bottle he wanted to celebrate the new business deal we closed together. I had no clue…and then when I looked at the wine list, I almost fainted when I saw how much some of those bottles cost. I saw wines over $1000 and up and prayed that he would be sensible somewhat…
Well, he picked the current vintage at the time which was 1995 Opus One…oh…ok, not too bad, $235 in the restaurant at the time…I was very relieved. When it arrived, they decanted it and that was the first time I actually saw a decanter…I was afraid to ask him what they were doing…why did they pour the wine out of the bottle (I had no clue).
He offered me a taste and I declined saying “don’t waste it on me”. He said , no , no, go ahead, taste it, maybe you will enjoy it. He had a glass poured for me…and then it happened…I took a sip…shook my head and took another sip…
The skies opened up, the angels from heaven descended in a ray of sunshine…I can hear the angels singing…
I said out load “WOW, so thats what good wine tastes like!!!”. The executive saw the look on my face and laughed in a robust manner and said…I just converted another one
I couldn’t believe it… of course, I immediately searched out some Opus One and for a year just about purchased only that wine…I was afraid to try any other, I had no clue what I was doing, I just knew I loved this wine…until I visited Napa Valley the next year during a business trip and an executive at IBM I know took me on a tour… and we stopped at St. Helena Wine Center (SHWC) and they educated me on Pride and others, I made purchases and had them ship them back home…I realized there was more to wine then just Opus One and began to learn more and experiment. A similar experience happened when I first tried my a first growth Bordeaux (Mouton 1982)…OMFG…but that’s another story…
I would (so would others) enjoy hearing stories from some of you about your first “AH HA” moment.
cheers