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What was the occasion when you first "got it" with wine -- the time when it hit you that yes, there is a difference between wines and some of them are spectacular.
Here's mine:
So a couple who we had met at an art show (one of my wife's pieces was included in the show), invited us over for dinner. The wine was good. I had never tasted anything like it before, but I was ignorant about wine. I bought cheeap cab, merlot and chard at the grocery store. It was okay, nothing special. Mostly, it was just alcohol with a different taste from beer, the thing to have on a special occasion, but I didn't know better.
It was pinot noir. I looked at the label and asked him about it. This was 20 years ago. He went into this long explanation about its origins, the vineyard, stuff like that, and my eyes glazed over. But I appreciated the fact that (i) he knew about wine, (ii) he had selected a wine that he thought was a very good choice (and it was good), and (iii) he thought we (or at least my wife) was worthy of a wine that he considered special.
Being a rude guest, I asked him where he got it and how much it cost.He went into another long explanation about mailing lists and how I couldn't get this wine at the local grocery store, and it was "only" $35. I thought, ya know, it's good, but do I need to pay that much for wine? I said that it was very good, but that I have never figured out why anybody would pay a lot of money for a bottle of wine. Because, like, I couldn't tell any difference between a $5 wine and a $25 wine from the grocery store. They all tasted pretty much the same to me.
So, his wife said, time for dessert and got up, took our plates. Ordered us to sit. He helped with the plates.
He came back with different wine glasses, bigger, fragile. She put a board in the middle of the table with assorted cheeses and a big basket of breads and crackers. Dessert?
He set down a fat glass flask (now I know it is a decanter) with wine in it. He poured a small amount in each glass. He said, here, set your glass on the table and move it in a circular motion like this (we were learning to swirl).
Then he said, stick your nose in the glass and smell. Okay, we're getting kinda dorky now. But it was their home, they had fed us a very nice dinner, and as they both stuck their noses in their glasses, my wife and I followed their lead.
Holy Sh!t! My brain went haywire! Endorphines were surely oooozing out my ears. I looked at my wife. She had that look that she gets just before she has an orgasm.
He said, okay, take a small sip and just move it around in your mouth a bit before swallowing. Savor it. I didn't want to drink it! I wanted to smell it! But I did what they did.
I said something like, wow, this is not like anything I've ever had before. My wife said, and I quote, "This is like bottled aphrodisiac."
Of course, I asked him what it was. He just smiled and said "one of those expensive wines that aren't worth the money."
We gnoshed on artisan cheeses and sipped this wine. And when it was gone, I felt like a child whose favorite toy was just chewed up by the lawn mower.
Okay, so any real wine nut who has tasted a lot of great California wines knows the wine I'm referring to. Not every expensive wine will blow you away like this or cause your wife to crawl on you lasciviously.
But that was my epiphany. That's when I realized that all wines are not created equal. There really are some wines that rise far above others.
Not all expensive wines are worth the money, and some inexpensive wines are very good. But there are some wines that cost a lot and are way better than the rest. They are luxury items. Not for everyone. Not for every day.
On a special occasion, like an anniversary or my wife's birthday, I will pull out a special wine. On our 25th anniversary, I really splurged big time, and ya know what? It was worth every penny.
What was your epiphany like?
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
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