Wines that Influenced Me

“What’s your favorite wine?”

It’s a question I get asked more often than I’d like.

The question seeks a recommendation of sorts to see what a wine person likes to drink, but the truth is wine is not only extremely subjective, but also is heavily influenced by the food, the setting, and the people you’re enjoying it with. What I like another may dislike, and what I had where and with whom will be entirely different from the next person who drinks that same wine, resulting in a unique experience for every person.

What I do have an answer to is the question, “What are some wines that influenced you?” Not necessarily the best or favorite wines I’ve ever had (or hm, maybe some do make a top list), but important ones which at that point in time really changed something in me in their own way. Here are five, in no particular order.

I was never a Bordeaux person. Like I got it, but I didn’t really get it. Why are people so obsessed with them? I had had great Bordeaux’s from some of the top producers, but I guess none of them had truly resonated with me. Delicious, but why not go Burgundy with the same amount of money? And then came the fateful day.

I didn’t even have to taste it.

One whiff from the tiny pour we are granted, and I was instantly captivated. I got it.

It had some of the aromas many other Bordeaux’s also had: ripe and dried blackcurrant with a hint of rose petals and tobacco, touch of spice and leather… but with such concentration and density I felt as though gravity had shifted. A portal had opened through the rim of the glass, into the deep scarlet liquid gem.

Couple droplets I carefully dripped onto my tongue, and endorphins flooded my brain.

Stunning.

And this was when it was popped and poured. I can’t imagine how it must have opened up after some time with air.

The 2000 vintage in Bordeaux is one of the “Vintages of the Century,” or simply put, an especially outstanding vintage. So who knows, maybe it could have been a different top producer and I may have been converted regardless. But put such exceptional vintage and a super-second growth producer together—maybe it was meant to be. Either way, this one tiny taste launched me into getting more excited and eager to learn about and sell more Bordeaux. I was hooked.

I tasted many more astounding Bordeaux wines after that (my preference always being those from the Left Bank) like Palmer, Cos d’Estournel, Margaux, and Lynch Bages, all of which were unbelievable even in less stellar vintages, but I will forever remember the shock from the smallest taste of the ‘00 Ducru.

I would use one of Genie’s three wishes to taste the ‘12 Raveneau Les Clos for the first time again. Correction: I would use the wish to taste it for the first time again when it opened up. The ‘12 was actually not the first Raveneau I had tasted; I had tried the ‘03 few months prior, only to be disappointed. What was all the hype about?

WJ, a generous acquaintance, had invited me to fill a last-minute vacant seat for a dinner at Family Meal at Blue Hill, offering to cover the wine portion if I showed up. Selosse was to make an appearance, so of course I said I will be there shamelessly.