Which wine was your Heureka moment?

WINE TALK
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Excuse me if this thread already exists!

I was talking with a friend about which wines have left the biggest impressions on us and it dawned on me that I had a very specific moment where I “got the bug”.

Growing up we’ve always had wines, but not the level of wines discussed here. If it was a really special evening then my father would serve something like a Antinori, Tignanello. I’ve always enjoyed these wines but nothing more.

Flashback to 2020, when visiting a local restaurant.
My friend and I had the wine pairing and we were served a 2017 Alter Ego from Chateau Palmer.

Yes there are greater wines, but it was most definitely the moment where I finally understood what this was about.

If you could only name one eye opening wine, which was it?

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My love of wine came after I became seriously interested in food.

In approximately 2004 I went to the Tasting Room, one of New York’s first true Farm to Table Restaurants in the East Village.

The tasting room was operated by Chef’s Colin and Renee Alevras. It was one of the very first, along with Chef Wylie Dufresne’s 77 Clinton and Jack Lambs’ Jacks Luxury Oyster Bar, serious restaurants to open in the EV / LES. All three were extremely important to our burgeoning interest in the culinary world. Chef Colin (RIP) was an incredible Chef and equally knowledgeable about wine. He decided to create a list focused 100% on small American winemakers - this was radical in NYC in the early 2000s. He was one of the most incredible people I have ever met and I am lucky to call him a friend.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/dining/colin-alevras-dead.html

As the story goes Paul Grieco met with a new small distributer to taste wine from a new producer in California. There is debate about whether the salesperson went to Paul first or Willy from Crossroads another NYC legend. In any event when Paul tasted these wines he called Colin and said you have to taste these wines! The distributor then went from Terrior to The Tasting Room. All this makes sense geographically because Crossroads was on 14th Street, Hearth on 12th and The Tasting Room was on 1st.

They all bought the wines…this new producer was off to a great start in NYC going 3 for 3 with some of the most important wine buyers in NYC. When I went to The Tasting Room I ordered the wine. I was immediately blown away, it was unlike any wine I had ever had. It has seemingly 100s of different flavors, it was viscous, complex, had soaring aromatics, it was psychedelic. And to this day I say you can tell a wine is great when you can still taste it the next day!

Up to this point I had never visited a wine region. I immediately emailed the producer and said I would like to visit his winery. A week or so later I got a lengthy excited, high energy reply that went something like this…Hi! I don’t have a winery, BUT I have some barrels and I want you to taste all of them…and I am having a dinner party so please plan on joining us after the tasting.

We ended up staying 2 minutes away from the winemaker, we have a slight snafu and the appointment almost did not happen. We were suppose to meet him near the outdoor fire place at our hotel, who knew they had two!

Anyway we did find each other (in more ways than one), we went to a non descript winery and tasted through 30+ barrel some transcendent, some bad, others just crazy wines - I LOVED all of it! At this point in our lives I had been grinding hard in NYC working 100+ hour weeks and had not been anywhere close to nature or the wine country life. We went to the dinner party and stayed until 3 or 4 in the morning. It was glorious eating outside in the middle of a vineyard, next to a pond. Everyone was so happy, relaxed, the food and wines were incredible. My happenstance I brought a wine that really moved the winemaker as it was a wine that is mentor opened for him to teach him about making Chardonnay and told him this is what we inspire to…that mentor was John Konsgaard.

The whole experience started with this wine really changed our life as we are obsessed with wine, have been traveling to wine regions ever since, have many winemakers we call friends and have become even more serious about food and wine! We are still extremely close with the winemaker today and we lost Colin but are still close to Renee.

The wine 2002 Scholium Project Sylphs (Guman Vineyard) Chardonnay made by Abe Schoener!

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I was brought into the world of wine appreciation by a glass of champagne at age 16, on a holiday in Paris. I couldn’t tell you what it was, but I was hooked from that moment.

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What a cool and personal story! Thanks for sharing!

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Thank you for reading and the kind comments.

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A different thread on other “strong” wine moments:

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Had not seen that one! Guess its the same topic :smiley:

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It is ok. It is a great topic and one I get asked regularly. A great way to start off the new year. Thanks for posting.

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Besides, it beats saying “use the search function.”
We’re here to discuss, not do research. :wine_glass:

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I was nibbling around the edges of getting into wine during my days of living in NYC (having grown up in a house where my parents had no wine appreciation whatsoever). My first strong memory was a 98 or 99 Mondavi Reserve cabernet, which a colleague brought to a party and was leagues above anything I had drank to that point. Then, at the recommendation of a friend, I would say my true epiphany bottle was 2001 Sadie Family Columella. I bought one, then the next day after drinking it and being blown away went back and bought another half-case. An unimaginably ridiculous spend for me at the time - but so worth it!

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So I was exposed to many high end wines when I was relatively young, and I enjoyed many wines in my first 5–6 years of collecting, but never had a really amazing wine despite having had many, until I had a 2013 Ramonet Clos de la Boudriotte rouge, which pretty much was it… wow that wine was monumental.

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As a 16 year old High School senior, the beverages of choice among my friends were Lowenbrau or Ronrico 151.
Then somebody brought a half gallon of Louis Martini Mountain Red to a party. I found not only my beverage of choice, but as it turned out, my career.
Next year in college, during the Monday night poker game, a guy (don’t remember his name) won a big pot. He threw a dollar to the guy who was old enough to buy and said “Next week, don’t buy the gallon of Gallo Burgundy, buy the gallon of Zinfandel, it’s a buck more and worth it.”
I paid attention to my next sip of the Burgundy, then tried to remember it when I tasted the Zinfandel the next week. The light bulb got brighter. In those days, probably 100% old vine Sonoma; $5 a gallon instead of $4 for the Burgundy.

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Oh wow I’ve only hade red Ramonet a couple of times, so underrated!

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I have a weird origin story. I used to actively dislike wine (college, first job, etc.). But I got into miles and points for traveling in premium cabin years ago, and through flying up front was introduced first to a '06 Comtes and then various editions of Krug GC. I got hooked into champagne then, though it wasn’t until the pandemic that I started actually buying wine (because I was grounded). And also didn’t get into buying still wine until about 2 years ago.

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I’m in my late 30’s and have been seriously collecting for the past 9 or 10 years. I don’t think I’ve ever had a single “aha” moment when it came to wine, but rather a series of epiphanies that kept me going down the rabbit hole. On my relatively short wine journey I’ve also learned some important lessons about wine and life.

Perhaps my first epiphany was at a WB offline at a Chinese restaurant in Cambridge, MA when I was still in Boston, put together by Ron Kramer (RIP) when I was just starting to explore wine regions and varieties. Because of the food it was all pinot noir, red Burgundy, and bubbles, and knowing nothing I brought a young mid-priced 1er cru I just picked up from Gordon’s. It was decent but forgettable, and I learned at that dinner the importance of producer especially for Burgundy. There was a Domaine Ponsot Clos de La Roche (forgot the vintage) that blew all the others out of the water. However, the “epiphany” wine for me that night was actually a 1998 Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf du Pape, brought by Ron, which taught me the joy of drinking wine at maturity.

Ron also taught me the importance of not waiting too long to drink up your cellar or for the right moment to open the good stuff. When he passed away and his next of kin sold off his cellar, I bought two of his remaining bottles of 1990 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Over the next couple years I opened both, which were wonderfully mature wines in stellar condition. But these were also sentimental for me, knowing he was probably around my current age when he laid these down for future enjoyment himself. None of us knows what tomorrow will bring, and those WBers who have done offline tastings with me (especially in St. Louis where I now live) know I’m not shy about bringing out extras bottles or some “baller” wines on occasion even if it’s just our monthly tasting group.

Following that first wine dinner I acquired a lot of my knowledge through reading here and attending other WB Boston offlines and blind tastings/seminars through the Boston Sommelier Society led by @DougS. I give him a lot of credit for my early wine education and some other wine epiphanies I’ve had (I still remember the 2004 Vilmart Coeur de Cuvee in magnum he brought to a tasting).

Following that I had several other epiphany moments. A 1991 Dalle Valle opened by a work colleague and a Ridge Monte Bello by @K_F_o_l_e_y opened my eyes to aged Napa cab. My first bottles of Prum and Willi Schaefer kabinett and Keller GGs (under $80 at the time) with the 2015 vintage release propelled me into German riesling and was reinforced by our pilgrimage to the Mosel in 2018. Our visits to Napa, Sonoma, and Willamette Valley were similarly life-affirming moments as a wine enthusiast, and for those of you who haven’t done any wine tourism I highly suggest doing so. Finally getting to attend one of @Robert_Dentice’s #rieslingstudy events in Memphis, and seeing firsthand his generosity and passion for spreading the gospel of German wines and wine in general (and drinking some mindblowing 1999 Keller G and 2014 D’Auvenay Sous Chatelet Aligote, among many other baller wines) was an incredible experience. Having my own Richebourg moment with a 1996 Hudelot-Noellat Richebourg at Tyler B’s house this past year was another eye opening moment and made me understand why people chase Grand Cru Burgundy.

I’m sure as I continue this fun (and financially irresponsible) hobby I will continue to have more epiphany moments like these.

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That is interesting because I feel like the wines taste so different at altitude than on the ground. That all said, my wife and I definitely drank a couple bottles of 2004 p2 on a recent Emirates first flight.

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A bottle of 10 LT that my friend shared with me at a restaurant shortly after release. Before that I thought Harlan was the pinnacle of wine. Turned me in a whole new direction.

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Great thread!

I was just a few years younger than you, and when it hit me, it was the defining moment in my wine journey.

1990 Chateau La Louviere, Graves.

While my father had exposed me to old world wines growing up, I came across this wine on my own journey of exploration. I was straight out of law school, and with a couple of buddies we were exploring California wines from some really quality vintages back then, 1991 through 1993. Caymus, Togni, Silverado, Beringer, et al. One of our local wine stores had an incredible selection of Bordeaux as well, and this was at a time when we were flush with excellent vintages, like 86, 89 and 90.

I even recall the price I paid back then, $24.99, which actually was a lot of money to me back then. And I remember Robert Parker anointed it with a 94 rating, which for him was a big rating back then, when his palate was still decent. I also have to admit that I was smitten by the old world label.

I had that 90 La Louviere side-by-side with some 91-93 Calis and the difference to me was revelatory. I found my palate. That lead me down a long path on which I remain today. And I still fondly remember that wine. Have probably had 18+ bottles of of it since that day, most recently about two years ago. It is hanging onto a thread, but it is still a very lovely, notable wine.

While not quite at the same level, I also bought then a lot of the 1989 Château Olivier, Graves. It wad $18.99. I still have one left from a lot that I sourced later. And I have a 1984 Caymus. In light of this thread prompting this thought, I’m gonna pop both of them with my son this weekend and do a side-by-side. This should be fun.

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Depending on where you’re flying from and what airline it is, they’ll sometimes open the nice stuff on the ground (for example, Emirates doesn’t open nice bottles on the ground in the US for tax reasons).

Having now had the same wines on the ground as opposed to up in the air, it is different and not as good (just more muted in general), but certainly still a better wine that what I had before then.

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Yeah I think emirates was opening veuve on the ground at JFK and not opening the dom until later, but they opened whatever on the ground at MXP.

Interestingly, I didn’t notice much difference between Yquem in the air vs on the ground, nor spirits like Hennessy paradis/tesseron 29.

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