What was your first wine epiphany?

As I've told here before, my real epiphany wine was the '82 Ch,. Gloria, served with leg of lamb about 1991. Before that I liked wine, and knew a bit (red Burgundy is PN, Bordeaux is mostly cab or merlot, etc) , but that was my real eyeopener. Led me down the road to obsession.

I don't generally think about getting people "into" wine. I think usually if faced with someone who doesn't normally drink wine I try to offer something approachable and with good fruit. Kabinett Riesling or a friendly Loire or NZ SB (nothing too stern) for whites, or maybe a juicy Southern French red (something like the Iche "Heretiques" VdP).

Epiphany would be 1967 Lafite that I had with a beef fondue in 1978. For relative newbies I like to pour Gamay or off-dry Riesling.

Howie, how much do you recall that 1967 Lafite going for on release? $20? Less?

Howie, how much do you recall that 1967 Lafite going for on release? $20? Less?

I didn't get it on release. I bought it in 1977 for $10 along with a '67 Haut Brion for the same price. But then, when I went back a few days later to stock up, it was all gone. Of course I did cringe when paying $29.50 per bottle for a case of '75 Lafite on release (still have a few left).

I know you realize I wasn't standing on the corner in an overcoat saying "Psssst... wanna try something great?"

actually, I did kinda visualize that. Randy in the shadows, whispering "get your 80-year old vine grenache here, sweet stuff, you gonna love it"
God damn, The Pusher
God damn, I say The Pusher
I said God damn, God damn The Pusher man

Having had the experience with music many times before, when you start to know someone better, you often have the impression they would appreciate certain sounds (or tastes) and the subtlety of same. Ironically, David Beuker mentioned Coltrane in today's talk, and I have been in the position of "turning people on" to John Coltrane, whose sounds vary from the most gentle and beautiful ballads to the famous screaming "sheets of sound" which are usually not accessible to most people as a first intro to jazz. So, the idea is a close friend or loved one who has never really tasted a wine he/she likes. The idea is not to force anyone to listen to or drink something just to impose a style or will, obviously.

Well, certainly if I trying to get someone into Coltrane, I'd start off with "My Favorite Things." One of my favorite albums of all time, and it is easily accessible to anyone (especially since most people would recognize all four songs). Similarly, if I was trying to get a friend to appreciate wine a bit more, I'd go for something accessible as noted before. If it was someone who had tried wines they had liked, and I thought maybe they might appreciate something I regarded as a step up, I'd base on what they liked before. A friend said he wanted to get more into wines, and told me "he liked cabs." Some experimentation showed what he really liked was really ripe reds, and I introduced him to the Southern Rhone. Now Gigondas is his favorite word.

Interesting thread. Look forward to seeing responses.

My epiphany with white wine was Piesporter Michelsberg at a German restaurant within walking distance of the BOQ (Bachelor Officer Quarters) on Coleman Barracks, Mannheim-Sandhofen. It got me enthusiastic about German Riesling. An epiphany as far as quality of dry whites was a taste of Montrachet (uncertain of vintage or producer) at a wine-tasting class at University of Maryland Adult Education Center, taught by Dr. Hamilton Mowbray who made and sold wines under the Montbray label.

My epiphanies with red wine were Ridge Lytton Springs and my first tastes of Grand Cru red Burgundies--1997 Bonnes Mares (Alex Gambal) at a Nantucket Wine Festival and '99 Clos de Beze at a Carolina Wine Company tasting (perhaps a charity-tasting for the victims of 9/11.)

I would introduce newcomers to wine with a Beaujolais-Village or Cru Beaujolais such as Fleurie or Brouilly as a red and a German Riesling Kabinett or Spatlese from the Mosel as a white. If they are convinced they don't like "sweet" wine, I might suggest a Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc. If they do like fruitiness or sweetness, I might have them try a Moscati d'Asti, Torres Vina Esmeralda (a blend of Muscat/Moscatel and Gewurztraminer), Banfi Rosa Regale Brachetto d'Acqui or a Bonny Doon Vin a Glacier.

i had tried a bunch of good bordeaux wines including prieure lichine '66 but found them too hard. couldn't understand what all the fuss was about or why this was supposed to be a big deal. wandered into morrell & co - the old narrow shop - and found some wines from '55, '59 and '62 - cru borgeois like lanessan, bel orme tronquoy lalande, and others including '55 lagrange. this was in '69. when i tasted these mature wines, i finally figured it out. i've been collecting ever since.

My epiphany, which I've related here before, was in 1985. I'd expressed an interest in wine while talking to one of the federal judges I work with. He sent me to a local wine shop (Schneider's) up on the Hill. I walked in, mentioned his name and was treated like I've never been treated before. After being asked what I thought I'd like, a bottle was pulled off the shelf and I was whisked into a back room where I enjoyed the wine with the stops owners, Rick and Jon. The wine was the 1984 Estancia then a second label to Franciscan. An entire and very new universe opened up to me that day. I still shop at Schneider's and enjoy a nice relationship with the owners.
Then there’s the ’83 Ch. Margaux……

I'm not sure I had a wine epiphany, but i had a Good Drink one

i was weaned on crappy commercial canuck beer (Keiths)

so, my first pint of cask conditioned real ale at Ginger's Tavern in 1985 was an epiphany, for sure

i probably had 100 wine epiphanies when I took the sommelier program as a relative newbie in 2000

Several subs and three firsts of their kinds:

In 1955 or '56, sipped a concorde red while witnessing Elvis for the first time - on TV. Joined the revolution.

Bought a bottle on my 18th birthday, in 1962, because I could. It set a tone.

Girl invited me to her Oakland apartment in 1969 and turned me on to my first bottle with a cork. A cab. Never looked back.

Circa 1980, wife bought a good Bordeaux and served it to me blind, to see if I could tell a good wine from plonk. I passed. Got my serious attention.

Circa 1992, drank a Penfolds 389 while watching a tree in the wind from my deck. First epiphany.

In 1994 got invited to the home of a multimillionaire to have a glass of every 1985 First Growth plus Cheval Blanc. Epiphany II.

Bought tons of Bordeaux 1997s on futures in 2000, on a premonition. Sealed forever love, while at the same time I went over the parabola to liking second rate Bordeaux better than anything else.

Never was able to turn an uninitiated bloke or woman on to wine, although I have tried many times.

Mid 70s in Chapel Hill, NC. I'd been drinking wine (cheap spanish, some shipper beaujolais--thought myself quite advanced beyond Gallo Hearty Burgundy) but picked this out of restaurant list and literally did a double take. I had no idea wine could taste like that. I came to learn that 1968 was generally known as a horrible Bordeaux vintage, which is presumably why the wine ended up in then-nearly-dry and then-bucolic North Carolina, but it was a true epiphany.
Thank goodness for off vintages.

Charles

One Christmas nearly 20 years ago my parents gave me a corkscrew and a little beginner's wine book by Jancis Robinson. I can't remember the title but I have it somewhere in the house. Reading through it got me interested so I would buy all this cheap supermarket stuff trying to match the wines with the descriptions in the book. Naturally, what I was drinking had nothing to do with the Bordeaux and Burgundy in the book. One day i decided to splurge half a month's salary on Pichon Lalande '85 and that's what did it.

As to what I would give to beginners - for white it would be Spatlese Riesling. For red that's tough. Maybe Oz Shiraz.

The wine that got me hooked was a Riesling that I drank in the Mosel region of Germany. Not knowing the first thing about wine I played the "ugly American" and told one of our hosts that all wine tasted the same. He took offense. I thought Germans only drank beer... who knew? He proceeded to explain the intricacies of Riesling to me while letting me sample the wares. From there my interest continued to grow to the money draining OCD that it is today.

Hi Randy,

My first epiphany was a cabernet sauvignon from CA, Sebastiani probably a 1975 or 1974 vintage as we received it as a wedding present in August 1977. It was the first wine that made me sit up and take notice, look at the label and say, what is this wine?

For my friends who don't know much about wine I would give them a german riesling kabinett if they preferred whites or a nice affordable (is that possible?) pinot noir if they prefer reds. These two wines are the most food friendly in my opinion, and most like them on their first try.

My father would drink gallon jugs of California "Burgundy". I always enjoyed these wines with meals. Then I tried a bottle of Beringer Knights Valley, I think 1982, in a restaurant and the rest is bottle cluttered history! Ah, those were the days, $8.99 Beringer Knights Valley! ...can't bring myself to buy it nowadays! Tom V

[Jenise]

Started drinking wine because I didn't like mixed drinks, and at cocktail parties and happy hours, you need to order something. Then I met my husband and suddenly had no expenses of my own, so my income went toward wine and food to lavish upon my new man. I was discerning but not particularly picky as we lived in California and there were many wines to choose from at any price point. I bought California wines because they were plentiful and I understood the labels. I loved Souverain's wines at the budget level and thought Caymus Cab Sauv was the cat's meow. Then one day at the market I found a bin of marked-down Bordeauxs. The new vintages were coming in and they needed to dump those 83's and 84's. It was either Haut Bailly or Haut Batailley, and I had never had a red wine so deep, so hauntingly complex. That set the first hook, planted the seed.

A few months later we were on our honeymoon, and we stopped in Paris. An international client of Bob's had booked us for dinner in Paris before we left for Europe, but by the time we got there he'd learned this wasn't an ordinary vacation and instead sent a note advising us to dine at Laurent that night, bill paid, and congratulations. We had foie gras terrine and duck magret with a light savory sauce studden with fresh red berry fruit. Our wine was the first Montrachet of my life. Up until that first sip, I thought I knew what good chardonnay was. That wine taught me that I hadn't a clue. I arrived in Paris a casual, if curious, wine drinker and left Paris obsessed with having that experience again. Happily, our waiter, who had been pre-advised as to the occasion, offered to soak the label off the bottle. I'm sure he thought it would end up in a keepsake album. Instead, it's framed and hangs in our wine cellar. Is Laurent still there?

And what was yours, Randy?

[David M. Bueker]

Epiphany wine: 1992 Arrowood Merlot.

And the discussion was about jazz. I think it's easier to get to like jazz with an artist like Dave Brubeck than say Coltrane (who I now truly enjoy).

I'm still waiting for mine.

So, anyone at the next offline I attend, please take notes

The first enjoyable wine I ever tried was an Egri Bikavér around 1993 - before that all I ever got to taste anywhere was the lowest of the low-end plonk that non-wine folks would squirrel away in their china cabinets and save for those "special occasions" once or twice a year ... you know, stuff like Blue Nun, Le Piat d'Or, Alpenweiss, Baby Duck, etc.

Funny thing is, the Egri Bikavér was completely dry and yet I never went through that supposed phase of starting with sweetish wines and then moving on to dry: my preference for tart, acidic table wines was locked in from that very moment. It was as if it had been pre-ordained ...

It took me about four more years before I got into wine as a regular hobby.

My first ever epiphany, though, was most certainly the '97 Inniskillin Old Vines Foch. That was the wine that turned me onto hybrids, and the rest is history.

I can't say it was my first great wine experience, but it was among my greatest great wine experiences.

The Hangsteffer family had made a fortune in the high tech industry in Massachusetts during the late 1970s. Jim Hangsteffer was into fine wine. When he found that the wholesale wine establishment was getting in his way of importing the wines he wanted to, he founded The WInecellar of Silene, whose wholesale arm was Silenus Wines, marketed with the brand "Stefmon Selections".

This was the very first fine wine shop I encountered. They were instrumental and at the vanguard of bringing many fine wine names to New England, including Chateau Montelena, Shafer, Seghesio, Lusatu, Isole I Olena--all of which they carried before they became cool.

When Jim Hangsteffer retired, he held a tasting bash to celebrate the occasion. I had the great fortune to be invited. The subject of the tasting was a vertical of Chateaux Mouton-Rothschild and Latour, from the vintages 1929, 1961, and 1982 (this being 1989). Mr. Hangsteffer had obtained his 1929s some years earlier from a wealthy collector in Connecticut who had purchased them in 1931 and cellared them very well ever since. This man's house wine was 1929 Mouton--he reserved the 1929 Leoville-Poyferre for special occasions.

It wasn't until I tasted the 1929 Latour and Mouton that I realized for the first time, why the critics go ga-ga over old Bordeaux. This was an epiphany.

And no, the 1982 Mouton has NOT proved a worthy successor to the 1929. I sold off all my bottles of that wine at auction. And I was glad to get the money (and to stick the poor suckers with the wine. ).

But now I DO understand why old, great Bordeaux is so highly regarded. It can, indeed, be magnificent.

-Paul W.

1994 Wynns Michael, almost exactly 10 years ago.

Went looking for it after a John & Dottie article on Australian Shiraz.

They rated the 1993 a "Delicious!", and I found the 1994 at the Carolina Wine Company.

By the way, I drank my last bottle a year or two ago at an offline, and

A) I wish I had a case of the stuff, and

B) If I had a case of the stuff, I'd hold it for at least another 20 or 30 years.

What a fantastic wine.

Like others, mine was a stepwise epiphany, but my first one was in '78, when I discovered how good wine could be when drinking a '74 Concannon Sauvignon Blanc. A more complete epiphany timeline follows:

1978 - A '74 Concannon Sauvignon Blanc convinces me that wine can be juicy and delicious
1981 - A '79 Dehlinger Zinfandel open my eyes to what complexity of flavor is all about
1982 - A horizontal tasting of '78 Cabs from Mondavi, Caymus and Clos du Val shows me how profound Cabernet can be
1983 - The '78 Ch. de la Gardine CdP opens my eyes to French wine
1986 - The '78 Chateau Montelena raises the bar yet again
1987 - The pairing of a '79 Zinfandel with lamb vindaloo demonstrates the potential for food/wine synergy
1988 - The '85 R. Dauvissat Chablis 'Les Preuses' rearranges my thinking about Chardonnay
1992 - A '90 Ridge Geyserville teaches me how profound "Zin" can be
1999 - '88 Chave Hermitage -- wow
2001 - '61 Lynch Bages makes fans of aged Bordeaux of us
2001 - New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc reminds me of the appeal of white wines
2001 - Visits to JP Brun and Marcel Lapierre rearrange our thinking about Beaujolais
2005 - '88 Dujac Clos de la Roche makes Burgundy believers of both Jean and myself

I'm still waiting for my next epiphany -- they never grow old!

Mark Lipton

My first real eye-opener was a Chambertin Cuvée Héritiers Latour 1947 tasted in the early 60s.

At about the same period, I served my apprenticeship on a number of great Bordeaux, Latour 28, Mouton 34, Pichon-Lalande 49 and numerous delicious 53s, including Cos, Lynch-Bages, Pichon, Beychevelle, Cantemerle, Léoville, etc. There were also some delicious Rheingau and Mosel, particularly from 53. But none of these have had quite the impact on my memory as the Chambertin.

From the 80s two really superb wines stand out; la Tâche 62 and Latour 45 (the latter purchased in the early 60s for £ 2.25 - then $ 6.30)

From the last 10 years, I particularly remember the following -

Palmer 61
Ausone 59
Dönnhoff 98 eiswein
Chevalier-Montrachet 85 Leflaive
Bonnes-Mares 69 Clair-Daü
Vouvray Huet 1947 (Le Mont, I think)
Corton Bouchard P&F 29
A series of Barolet pre-war burgundies
Imperial 66 and Viña Real 59, 64 & 70

I have had the mythical Latour 61 twice which left me full of admiration but unmoved, unlike the 45.

The first wine that made me open my eyes a little and started making me think seriously about wine was in 1999, and it was a Sella & Mosca Cannonaou di Sardegnia at a restaurant during a business lunch.

After that Chateau des Charmes Reisling Late Harvest was a favorite...and buying half-bottles of Prieuré de Cenac as drinking a whole bottle between the 2 of us was crazy talk!

The rest is history...