Which wine was your Heureka moment?

WINE TALK
41

Love this topic whenever it comes up. Here’s my story.

I got into wine largely through food.

I’m from California. When I showed up to Princeton University in 2001 for my freshman year, my roommate was a lifetime New Yorker whose family took it upon themselves to show me the best Manhattan had to offer. So I ate very well at a young age. At the ages of 18-20, I did big dinners at Daniel, Bernardin, Le Cirque, etc. Never could have dreamed of that growing up. Also in college, I started buying wine to BYO. NJ is almost exclusively BYO, so when my girlfriend (now wife) and I would go on a date, we’d have to find a wine. Princeton Corkscrew was my friend.

I reasonably quickly got pretty deep into the nerdier aspects of the dining world. I read and participated in Plotnicki’s Opinionated About Dining (among other food boards) and went globetrotting to all sorts of Michelin spots.

In that process, I developed a deeper appreciation for wine and more and more started reading eBob, largely through links on OAD. I have an indelible memory of being blown away by an 01 Clos des Papes. Don’t know if it was the first–but it sure was memorable.

Then in 2007, inspired in significant part by online dining and wine forums, my wife and I went to Beaune as part of our honeymoon (I, unlike many, actually started with Burgundy). And we also did Troisgros, staying overnight. At that point, wine was an interest but not a hobby. I’d never purchased a bottle to lay down. It was the bottle of wine at that dinner–a 1993 Rousseau Chambertin for 200 Euro–that provided the spark to blow the whole thing open. From then, I was hooked.

Simultaneously, I developed an interest in cooking, largely to drink great wine at home.

It was in about 2009 or so–fresh out of law school and with some first-year-associate cash for the first time in my life–that I bought my first ever case to store–from Premier Cru of all places! Three bottles each of 04 Palmer, 04 Giacosa Falletto, 05 Bouchard Corton, and 05 Faiveley Combe aux Moines. I still have many of those left. Just the other night I opened a bottle of the Giacosa, and it was fabulous!

Cheers!

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42

Now, that’s a ‘food for thought’ question. I can look back at more than 50 years of paying attention to my wine drinking. Plenty of eye opening wine moments sprinkled about here and there. And even now, wines still have the ability to surprise and delight me. I’m grateful for that.

As for my first Eureka moment, it was not a single wine, but an event. In my early twenties, I attended my first sit down wine tasting, where we tasted through ten white wines of Bordeaux, both dry and sweet… Eureka indeed!

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43

I drank wine on occasion as a young man, but was never serious about learning about what I was drinking. In my 30’s I was invited to a millennium dinner party on New Year’s Eve 1999 in New York City with a group of older friends of my father’s who were wine collectors and brought some gems from their cellars. One friend brought several bottles of 1982 Pichon Lalande which absolutely blew my mind. It had a depth and texture and subtlety to it that I did not know wine could have.
That got me to start learning more - first hung out on the old Wine Commune board, then moved on to a small group board called the Wine Undergound as well as the old Parker board. Moved to Berserkers soon after it started. Learned a lot on all those forums and still am learning today. Post notes occasionally, but most of the time focus on enjoying the wine and the company I am with versus geeking out on notes.
Started to attend a few off lines in the Boston area and even organized a few. Now have a great group of wine friends, including the Boston poker crew, who have always been incredibly generous in sharing knowledge and a great variety of wines. Still exploring and learning after what is now 25+ years

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44

The first wines that wasn’t the bag-in-box red wine my dad is drinking… :sweat_smile:
I grew up with that, and therefore I was never really exposed to any form of decent wine at home.

So it came in my twenties, during University, when I formed a food group with a few friends and their friends. Basically an excuse to meet up and party. However one of my now very close friends, who was also in this group, grew up with a dad who was a wine collector, so he would bring some nice bottles we could drink.

Initially i was exposed to wines from Sandrone, Aldo Conterno, Bodegas Aalto and Peter Sisseck. I was blown away by how wine could actually taste. I was instantly hooked.

During that time I was also allowed to buy some lower end Burgundy stuff from my friends dad which just made me even more hooked. Pacalet, Meo Camuzet and some red Ramonet.

From there on my friends and I went absolutely crazy with everything wine. Reading, tasting and going out in Copenhagen to try new stuff. That’s also where the “natural wine” genre hit me and to this day still influence my taste heavily.

When it comes to special bottles, that I will never forget, from my early wine journey, then there are three that stands out:

My first Rayas. I was sitting in the bar at Restaurant Frank in Copenhagen doing a small Grenache tasting with my two friends. When I had that first glass of Rayas everything else around me faded. Just full focus on the wine and its aromatics.

My first Overnoy Chardonnay at a winebar in Copenhagen. What the fuck was that? I was blown away and it started my Jura journey. Still my favourite white wine genre to this day.

My first proper aged Jamet. That smoked meaty intensity you can only get in a 20+ year old Northern Rhone wine. I couldn’t believe something made from grapes could showcase such notes.

That’s probably the biggest defining wine moments I had early in my journey.

I had many great moments since, but probably less defining.

Most importantly then I shared all of these moments with my two friends. It has been an absolute joy to have people to share the journey with.

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45

Yes, because there is. For some reason the preference changed to the non-h one in the early 19th century in English language. Before that, it was spelled as “heureka” also in English. Probably this change came about because of the influence from other languages that didn’t have “h” and wrote it as “eureka” instead.

However, in ancient Greek the word was “heureka” and many languages still both write and pronounce it that way.

Regarding this thread, never really had a heureka moment with wine myself. The whole wine thing just gradually happened to me, I guess.

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46

@Brian_Tuite - bitch, you been schooled by my favorite wine nerd! Love it!

:rofl: :kissing_heart:

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47

Should this thread be merged with the “Mr. Language Person” thread?

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48

1969 Bouchard Pere & Fils Greves Vignes de L’Enfant Jesus at Au Relais in Sonoma, in 1980 I think. Blown away by the incredible, intense aromatics of crushed raspberry and compelling length.

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49

I’ll get a memo off the Eureka CA

50

Shouldn’t you send it to Yreka?

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51

1989 Haut Brion @ Emeril’s in N.O.

52

I didn’t realize OAD has been around that long–I don’t think he’s updated the UI since you were 18-20 either. The website can be an absolute pain to enter reviews on. It’s still a very useful reference though.

53

I think one of the most things I feel the most strongly about missing out on was getting the older Bordeauxs when they were young or on release (why was I elementary school in the 90s instead of buying Bordeaux futures?). I enjoy browsing the older threads and reading about some bottle from the 80s or 90s with a great tasting note, then I get excited because WS shows recent vintages aren’t all that expensive, and then I read more about the wine and find out they hired Michel Rolland sometime in the 2000s. Alas! Luckily, sourcing old Bordeaux is much more reasonable than many other regions.

54

Tangent alert:

OAD in the old days was completely different than it is today (unless Steve still has an active discussion board that I’m unaware of). Now Steve does the OAD guides, which while imperfect are very useful. I’m not actually sure there is a better global resource, though there are better local guides.

In the old days, OAD was not a guide but a pure discussion board like WB. I think Steve created it when he got pissed off at eGullet, though I was not around for its inception (some here were). Therefore, in a way WB:eBob::OAD:eGullet.

OAD was really a great board at its peak, with huge running threads on the world’s top restaurants with gorgeous photos etc. It eventually lost out to blogs and social media, but I do miss it sometimes. I’m not aware of anything today that’s basically WB for fine dining, which is essentially what OAD was (though I care a lot less about fine dining than I once did, so I may just be unaware).

I used to be a pretty active reviewer for OAD but haven’t done it in years. I should re-up it, though young kids and evolving preferences for more casual experiences have made my fine dining experiences fewer and farther between.

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55

Very true, but it is still very easy to source young and new release Bordeaux that remain classic at their core. We’ve got a lot of threads on that very subject, but some Chateau to look out for:

Langoa Barton
Clerc Milon
D’Armailhac
Ferriere
Giscours
Haut Bages Liberal
Clos du Marquis

I have bought all of these in 2016, 2019 and 2020.

Www.Internetwines.com Leave it open

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56

Trust me, I live in Heurope you know.

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57

The 2014 version of Alter Ego was my first “aha” moment with Bordeaux.

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58

@GWang I’d also add Branaire Ducru to Alfert’s list. I shared the 2019 with a friend who makes a big deal out of not liking the more traditional wines I prefer. His reaction? “Wait, this is classic Bordeaux, too? I love this.” I’m hoping it will end up being his Heureka wine.

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59

Oh shoot, I am dumb. That should’ve been top of my list. This château is killing it right now. Great call!!!

Durfort Vivens as well. The 2016 and 2019 are gorgeous.

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60

Thank you both for the recs!

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