Stair step process.
First, a dinner at the East Side Oyster Bar in Sonoma (long gone) around 1994. Asked the waiter to recommend a bottle. Gary Farrell’s base PN. Hmm, you can get better stuff if you’re willing to pay more than $10 a bottle.
Second, a wine bar in Santa Rosa. They were pouring 2003 Ogier Cote Rotie. Where the h**l is that bacon coming from?
Third, 2004 Lan Rioja Reserva with a Spanish lamb stew at home in 2008. Holy c**p! 1 + 1 can = 3.
'59 La Tâche & '61 Krug, both tasted in 1970-71. Life has never been the same since.
The 94 DV cab continues to be amazing.
at a wine dinner in chicago a 1996 Auguste Clape Cornas was opened. up until then I wasn’t really collecting, more just dabbling in the kiddie pool.
Hate to admit it, but it was probably a 1970 Haut Brion. Followed up quickly by '74 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard.
last July in the same day I had the 09 Seven Stones, just popped and poured by Roy. I never thought I would fork up that much for a bottle of wine… now I have the 09 and an inaugural three pack… Just amazing wine right out of the bottle. No decanting, no aerating, just great wine that got even better as it blossomed…
later that day I met with Mike Smith. Who would think twice in one day you can taste cabernets that can be popped and poured and be SO GOOD at all these price points. Made me realize life is too short to drink bad wine, and you just don’t have to… great wines at all price points…
No one bottle really pushed me in my passion for wine. It just sort of build over time. Now, there are wines that stand out over time, but all of them were after I was well under the spell, already. If anything, my wife was the catalyst. When we met, I was drinking Jim Beam and Coke’s…and a varied assortment of shots. Her family always had wine around (however cheap it was) and got me into drinking it with dinner.
Silverado Cab 1987
1996 Bryant Family tasted at the Wine Exchange in Orange, back in 1999. Blew my mind. Never knew a wine could be like that and I had already been into wine increasingly for six years by that point.
Prior to that, another one was of all things the 1993 Chalk Hill Chard. Those old Chalk Hills were really nice Chards for $26 back in the day when David Ramey made them. I remember thinking… wow, I like this so much better than KJ Private Reserve! Probably was the oak. ![[tease.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/c/c5b32b76bebaa359b0452ae247b61189ffe5fa7e.gif "tease"){kind=small}
1971 Chateau Ripeau in 1975. Served to me by accident after I ordered a Johnston St. Emilion because it was the cheapest red wine on the restaurant list. When they brought the check I did not have enough money to cover the $10. that the Ripeau cost (The Johnston was about $4).
Went to the old Sam’s the next day which was 1 block from my apartment and asked about this Bordeaux stuff. I was given three bottles of 1970: Grand Puy Lacoste, Phelan Segur and one I cannot recall. Called my best friend to come over and we drank all of them that day.
Two weeks later I had purchased Hugh Johnson’s World Atlas of Wine and got a job at Sam’s. I was determined to try every label in the book.
Ironically, I have no Bordeaux in my cellar 37 years later…80% Burg.
1975 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cab. Became a Silver Oak snob and didn’t venture too far until Justin sold the winery.
OK, you’re right. My two wines as previously stated:
83 Margaux tasted in 2003
91 Panther Creek Beaux Freres Pinot tasted in 2001
The story: I am the youngest of three children. I have two older brothers who are 10 and 12 years older. My parents have traditionally had a pretty liberal attitude about alcohol and staring when we were 16, we were allowed to have a small pour (2-3 oz) of wine with dinner. Only with dinner, no refills, no exceptions. I think it was as much a matter of making my parents feel cultured and “European” as it was to make us cognizant of alcohol. Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of friends because I had a speech impediment and it made me the butt of a lot of jokes and made me feel pretty isolated. Coupled with the fact that my brothers are 10+ years older, I grew up feeling like an outsider. Being able to drink wine with dinner made me feel adult and grown up and made me feel like I was a part of a different world. I always liked wine and had seen my parents swoon over certain bottles, but these were two wines that struck me personally. They really spoke to me and with each one of them in their time and place, I couldn’t imagine a wine that could be more perfect. I understood the swooning and the passion. They were two wines that struck me personally, where I wasn’t trying to see or understand what someone else was experiencing - it was really much more about what I felt and my own experience. I was like I finally got it and understood. You could talk about the wines, but how they seemed to me was really beyond words. Describing them just seemed to cheapen the experience. And no matter how anybody mocked me or made fun of me, they couldn’t steal that experience or the memory. It was liking encountering a small piece of perfection in an otherwise imperfect world. They were both glimpses into something grander. I’ve had both wines since and while they were awesome, they weren’t the same. It was really a matter of the time and place.
No perfect wines - just perfect bottles.
For me it was a magnum of late 80s Beaucastel consumed in '93 at a party. (I was a mateus rose kind of wine drinker at the time - the Beau was a gift.)
We drank a little less than half the bottle soon after it was opened. Then we got distracted and didn’t return to the bottle until a few hours later. The wine had blossomed in the time it had been left open - much more expressive, and for the first time I was noticing all sorts of non-fruit elements in wine. The rest of that bottle, consumed over a couple more hours, offered a different experience with each glass.
I had never experienced a wine opening up in that way, or the variety of non-fruit flavors, or the way the wine continued to change with each glass.
It was a revelation.
For some it might be a commonplace wine, but for many, I think, it’s the first experience with a truly great quality wine that creates the “aha” moment where they turn all of the floodlights on, and where the lifelong seeking begins. Not sure if anyone remembers this, but it’s like the Taxi episode where Jim smokes his first joint.
A '96 or '97 Venge Vineyards Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon at a colleagues retirement dinner.
I don’t think I had paid more than $25 for a bottle before that day. It was $200 off the list at Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse in Houston.
Maybe more importantly, my wife was with me and it was her epiphany wine as well. As a result she doesn’t complain too much when the credit card bills come in. As she told a mutual friend, “Yes, I guess you could say spending too much money on wine is his vice. But how many wives get to enjoys their husband’s vices.” Needless to say, I love that woman.
Monte
1979 Lafite in 1984. The first Bordeaux that I ever tried. I was barely 21 and waiting tables @ Oakland Hills CC. I was just getting into wine and up until then I was trying variuos California (my fav’s were the '80 Jordon and BV GdLT). A member who knew I was interested in wine gave me half a bottle as a tip. It had been open for a couple of hours and was in a perfect spot. It completely blew me away and had sooo much going on compared to anything else that I had ever had before. I’ve been a Bordeaux nut ever since…
2007 Anthill Demuth and Abbey Harris, and 2007 Rhys Horseshoe.
Much more recent than what others are listing, as I am relatively new to the wine world. But without a doubt these are the bottles that changed the way I drink wine. Up until that point, I didn’t like nor understand why everyone was so into Pinot. Signed up for Anthill on a recommendation, and after tasting through their lineup at the pick-up, I finally got it. Dave then opened up a 2007 Williams Selyem Peay and 2007 Rhys Horseshoe, which also blew me away. Signed up for Rhys right away (although too late for the 2007 HS), and the two producers have dominated my “collection” ever since.
Thanks, Rachel. That’s the kind of storytelling I hoped to inspire.
A 2002 Charmes Chambertin at a business dinner 6-7 years ago. Next to some expensive cali cabs and older bordeaux it blew me away and made me want to learn more about wine. At the time I thought Charmes Chambertin was the name of the winery… I still haven’t figured out which producer it was.
1999 Ridge Geyserville. Many more epiphanies came afterward categorically speaking, but that wine made me stop suddenly and changed the way I looked at wine. I was grilling steaks for a dinner with my mentor and his wife, and he brought that. Until that point, my experience with wine was limited to basket chianti and woodbridge level grocery plonk that was thin and bitter.
After that dinner I went to a local store and picked up the ridge, some 99 Markham Cabernet, 95 Rauzan Segla and 99 Hess Collection Mt Veeder Cab and began my journey; at 22 I suddenly found myself spending a huge % of my disposable income on wine.