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What's you most memorable wine experience

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    What's you most memorable wine experience

    When I think of food and wine, I think in terms of the experience it invokes and the memory it leaves. I've had some delicious wines in my life but there's one that simply stands out way above the rest.

    In 2019, my wife and I went to a local Italian eatery owned by an Italian couple from Napoli. Their restaurant consistently ranks as number one in my town on TripAdvisor. We went there to enjoy a nice meal a year after our trip to Tuscany and brought a bottle with us from that trip. I don't remember what we had to eat but it was meant to be paired with the wine, which was a 1997 Cesari Bosani Amarone. It wasn't a ridiculously expensive wine but it was like drinking liquid silk. It had a voluptuous mouth feel and hedonistic after effect.

    #2
    Mine divide into ones where the wines were stunning and ones where the combination of wine and setting was special. Stunning wine memories are a vertical of Domaine Leroy "Beaux Monts", Sauzet "Montrachet" and various Barolo from Bartolo Mascarello and Capellano. A vertical of 1948 Ports in my first tasting group.

    Settings - most of the wines were more modest, but the setting was great. A lunch at Felsina in Chianti. Some Romano Levi grappa at a dinner in Florence.

    The thing is, I've tasted and drunk thousands of wines over the years (yay tasting group!) and most of the wines have been very good, so aside from a handful wine experiences they kind of blur into each other. There are others aside from the ones above - a 1985 Henri Jayer grand cru, etc. But mostly the wines I've tasted I remeber because of the people and the setting.

    Comment


    • WayneT
      WayneT commented
      Editing a comment
      A vertical of ports? đŸ˜” please tell me you took an Uber or limo back from that. We did a horizontal of NV tawny ports at home, 10-20 year, Kirkland, Dow, Sandeman, Graham, Warre, et. al. We slept like babies!

    • rickgregory
      rickgregory commented
      Editing a comment
      WayneT - nah, that was nothing. We did combine the with some Bordeaux (there were only 4 ports, Dow, Fonseca, Grahams and... Quinto do noval I think.) This was maybe 20 years ago, though.

    • WayneT
      WayneT commented
      Editing a comment
      A lower age and higher metabolism would certainly help. Even so, four 2 oz pours of 18abv port would have put me under the table.

    #3
    MD 2020,plum wine,,,N/A,,,,1/2 a doobie of MDW,,,,,feelin’ cool,,,,
    Simco’s on Blue Hill Ave, Mattapan,,,,had to have a hot dog,,,
    onions and mustard,,,,walked up ordered,,,,,got a lot of looks and I ATE IT RIGHT THERE,,,,
    Got back in the V Dub and drove away,,,,,
    And I’m still here to tell about it,,,LOL

    Comment


    • WayneT
      WayneT commented
      Editing a comment
      Glad you’re still here to relate that experience. Something you want to re-live?

    • Whiskeyman53
      Whiskeyman53 commented
      Editing a comment
      Just being able to drive away after spending time on Blue Hill Ave
      is a positive.

    #4
    My wife bought me 3 bottles of 20 year old (at the time) 1987 Beringer founders reserve cab as an anniversary gift.that is up there!
    Last edited by Richard Chrz; July 7, 2022, 02:54 PM.

    Comment


    • WayneT
      WayneT commented
      Editing a comment
      Napa for the win on Cab Sauv.

    • Richard Chrz
      Richard Chrz commented
      Editing a comment
      My wife buys a case of wine a month through a club.

    #5
    In high school me and my buddy, Robbie (may he Rest In Peace) snuck out of the house and night and bought a bottle of TJ Swan and Mad Dog 20/20. Yep, that evening (and the next morning) is something I will never forget.

    Comment


    • WayneT
      WayneT commented
      Editing a comment
      I can feel your
nausea?

    #6
    Mine involves my time in Paris, France while attending culinary school. I was able to sit with the head chef after a day of classes at a small jazz club in the Latin Quarter. He was well known at the club and we had our selection of the best wines. The Bordeaux he popped was stunning. It is now why I love red wines almost exclusively.

    Comment


    • WayneT
      WayneT commented
      Editing a comment
      That’s awesome, FleetingSmoke. Some of our other most memorable experiences were while in Tuscany. There’s just something about being at the winery where great wines are made that exponentially increases the pleasure of the experience.

    • FleetingSmoke
      FleetingSmoke commented
      Editing a comment
      I agree WayneT. I think it is the fact of knowing it is "fresh". Now to get back to that experience again.

    #7
    WayneT I am very interested in knowing the name of the Italian restaurant near you. Always up for a new venture.

    Comment


    • WayneT
      WayneT commented
      Editing a comment
      You’ve got one of the best upscale Italian restaurants in the state near you on Brawley School Rd., Caruso’s. Been there? There is also Luce in downtown Charlotte.

      The one I referred to is Di Lisio’s, on Brookstown in Winston-Salem. Tony and his wife Maria do a great job of Napoli seafood and traditional southern Italian dishes. You wont find Bolognese or Veal Milanese on the menu but he rocks Veal Osso Bucco.

    • Hulagn1971
      Hulagn1971 commented
      Editing a comment
      WayneT I'll have to try Di Lisio's. We live right down the road in Kernersville.

    • mcook2201
      mcook2201 commented
      Editing a comment
      WayneT My wife has eaten at Caruso's. Funny, I haven't been invited đŸ€”! We eat a lot of Italian in the Charlotte area. I will definitely try Di Lisio's as we meet with another couple in that area often and, will give Caruso's a go too. Thank you for the info.
      Last edited by mcook2201; July 7, 2022, 10:07 PM.

    #8
    We bought this bottle at auction for $175. Had it for our anniversary. It’s the greatest bottle of wine Stacy and I have ever had.

    Click image for larger version

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    Comment


    • WayneT
      WayneT commented
      Editing a comment
      Wow! $175 for a 1966 Bordeaux from St. Julien is fantastic. What year did you drink that?

    • ecowper
      ecowper commented
      Editing a comment
      WayneT it was an amazing price and bottle. We went to a seafood restaurant in Seattle, Aqua by ElGaucho.

    #9
    I wasn’t even the person drinking during my most memorable experience with wine. My older brother’s one and only bout with MD 20/20 was instant legend amongst our circle of friends. Although I didn’t witness the events first hand, hearing the stories and having the "pleasure" of assisting with the cleanup and recovery was enough to convince me that something in that wine and our gene pool should never be mixed.

    Comment


    • WayneT
      WayneT commented
      Editing a comment
      Youth and wine do not mix well.

    #10
    I'm not really a wine person, but back in my younger days, my friends and I had some memorable experiences involving Boone's Farm. If only I could remember it all...

    Comment


    • WayneT
      WayneT commented
      Editing a comment
      Eh, maybe it’s best you don’t remember it. đŸ€«

    #11
    I may have recounted this before but here goes:
    Some hombre is sparking a girl we all knew so after a day skiing he decides to wow her with his special Italian cooking.
    Sends me and my buddy into town with specific down to the letter instructions of what Italian red wine to buy to compliment his gastric creation.
    Its like $20 a bottle, we had enough to buy 4 or 5 bottles, but we found something that kinda, sorta, maybe, could be if you really lied/stretched the truth a lot could be the wine he wanted but you could buy a dozen bottles instead of a few.
    Done.
    We get back with our treasure trove and buddy absolutely looses his mind, his meal is ruined, destroyed by this plonk we brought....and it was a screw top not a cork....
    Dude got told, girl dumped him and we drank a case a wine.

    Comment


      #12
      There are a few that stand out. Back in the late 80's, we were part of a private wine tasting and wine making event at Far Niente. It was more like a wine pairing with whites and reds and some wonderous foods. Then a tour of the private vintage car collection the original owner in an old barn - cars from the 30's & 40's: Duesenbergs, Rolls, Pierce Arrow and others. Far Niente stills makes some of the best reds out of Napa.

      Another was a trip to Napa around 1986, well before Napa became a zoo. We stopped at this little winery named Grgich Hills. The tasting room was two 1-12" planks over a couple of wine barrels. Miljenko "Mike" Grgich, a wonderful and entertaining Croatian immigrant, was there presenting his wines - it was just the wife and me. The best line from him: "Cabernet, she is like my wife - warm and forgiving, But, Zinfandel - ah, she is like my Lover!" It was a fun and tasty day!

      Then there was the inspiration from the movie "Bottle Shock" - and Chateau Montelena became one of our favorites to visit and drink. Yumm.

      Comment


      • WayneT
        WayneT commented
        Editing a comment
        I hear you about Napa becoming a zoo. Next trip we make out west will be to Willamette Valley, OR, which is what Napa used to be. Nothing I hate more than going into a winery and seeing postcards, key fobs and t-shirts for sale and taking as much shelf space as the wines.

      • acorgihouse
        acorgihouse commented
        Editing a comment
        Maybe a dozen years ago, a friend and I were visiting SF. We did one of the day trips, in a van, driven from winery to winery. Grgich Hills remains my favorite.

      #13
      You did say memorable. When I was 18, me & a buddy had polished off a gallon & a half of what I believe were Rossi Chianti and, well the rest of the story ended 24 to 36 hours later. It was not pretty.

      Comment


      • WayneT
        WayneT commented
        Editing a comment
        I knew I could count on a good story from you FireMan! You’d think that cleanup after such a binge would cure us but that’s not necessarily the way it happens.

      #14
      Place: 1968, Santa Cruz mountains
      "Wine": Carlo Rossi Red mountain gallon jug.
      Getting off on some acid, great trip!

      Comment


        #15
        When I was about 16 I had the stupid idea to make my own wine. Welch’s grape juice and powdered yeast in a gallon jug with one of those tops that lets the gas out. OMG. Me and a buddy choked down most of the jug very quickly and you can easily guess the results. Sick for days. Haven’t been able to drink wine since. That was 50 years ago. đŸ˜”Ăąâ‚ŹÂĂ°Ćžâ€™Â«đŸ€źđŸ„Ž

        Comment


        • WayneT
          WayneT commented
          Editing a comment
          Yikes! Glad it’s only a memory and not your go-to recipe.

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