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Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and are ... - 1/11/2018 4:32:33 PM   
Smaragd

 

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Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and are still powerfully nostalgic today...

(By youth, I mean when you/we first started sourcing and buying wines on your own.)

i'll go first: Taurino Salice Salentino, and Barton & Guestier Bordeaux Blanc (both around 1998)

< Message edited by Smaragd -- 1/12/2018 9:10:30 AM >
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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/11/2018 6:42:26 PM   
oskiwawa

 

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Status: offline 		1982 Bordeaux

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/11/2018 7:07:28 PM   
KPB

 

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From: Ithaca, New York
Status: offline 		Dunn’s early Howell Mountain cabs: 1981-1983... did they ever ease up, at all?

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/11/2018 8:56:07 PM   
CranBurgundy

 

Posts: 8272
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From: Philly / South Joizey
Status: offline 		Arrowood Cabs. The 90's Reserve Speciale Cabs just keep getting better. We had a 2001 Grand Archer a couple years ago that was still gorgeous, and that was their entry level Cab back then.

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/11/2018 10:53:53 PM   
jmcmchi

 

Posts: 3205
Joined: 8/6/2013
Status: offline 		1966 Pichon Lalande my first bargain buy

1959 LeCrock showed me what Bordeaux could do (in 1971)

1970 Bonnes Mares from Jadot

Le Villageois in plastic magnum drunk on Nice beach, must have cost 7 francs

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 3:51:24 AM   
BornToRhone

 

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From: The Big D, Texas
Status: offline 		Started drinking wine "in my youth" at the age of 45 or so.

BV Napa cab, Cline Cashmere, and Seghesio were my norms then.

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 5:45:34 AM   
racerchris

 

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Sadly I can't afford to buy new vintages anymore.

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 9:51:29 AM   
bretrooks

 

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From: San Luis Obispo, CA
Status: offline 		Many of the early "nice" bottles my wife and I had when starting to explore wine in the mid-2000's were high-density fruit-forward reds from Paso (with some from SLO and Santa Ynez). I've gravitated away from that style over time, but when we do have one, I'll still often enjoy it for what it is and let it connect me back to those earlier years.

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 10:24:05 AM   
lockestep

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: KPB

Dunn’s early Howell Mountain cabs: 1981-1983... did they ever ease up, at all?


I'll let you know soon. I have two bottles of the 1982 Howell Mountain that I laid down at release, and have been looking for an excuse to try one.

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 10:25:16 AM   
bacchus

 

Posts: 1136
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From: Staten Island, New York
Status: offline 		1964 brand cantenac got me into the game in the '70's. Enjoyed a bottle a few years ago that was holdiing up well. Have enjoyed many vintages after that. 1966, 1967, 1970, 1975, 1989, 1990, 1995, 2000.



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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 10:26:00 AM   
lockestep

 

Posts: 1964
Joined: 2/12/2012
From: Unionville, PA
Status: offline 		For me the game changer was a 1974 regular Mondavi Napa Cab that I tried around 1984. It seemed perfect at the time, and started the madness.

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 10:26:32 AM   
oskiwawa

 

Posts: 2256
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Status: offline 		do post a note when you crack one. I have one that has been laying on it's side for a very long time. '82 was our wedding year and I have this one targetted for 2022

quote:

ORIGINAL: lockestep


quote:

ORIGINAL: KPB

Dunn’s early Howell Mountain cabs: 1981-1983... did they ever ease up, at all?


I'll let you know soon. I have two bottles of the 1982 Howell Mountain that I laid down at release, and have been looking for an excuse to try one.


(in reply to lockestep)
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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 11:54:40 AM   
hankj

 

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Status: offline 		When I was a kid waiting tables at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla, our first special wines promotion was anchored by Far Niente Chardonnay and Cakebread Cab. This was the early 1990's and these wines were smaller production and better quality back then than they are today; I still though feel that same little sense of wonder that there's a lot of good stuff out there when I see these labels. Even though I know there are dozens of equivalent (or better) top-shelf supermarket wines from Napa, I still associate these two particularly with good times and seemingly endless youth :)

I think this was what your were getting at OP? Bottles that make you nostalgic?

< Message edited by hankj -- 1/12/2018 12:20:36 PM >

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 11:59:57 AM   
WineGuyCO

 

Posts: 3797
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From: Living at 7200 ft. in Monument CO
Status: offline 		My first memorable purchases were four cases of 1978 BV Private Reserve and I still buy a little of this wine today. I don't think todays wines are nearly as good as some of these in the 70's and early 80's but my memory is fading. I actually traded a case of 1978 BV Private reserve for a case of 1986 Pichon LaLande and THAT was the beginning of my Bordeaux adventure.

Rick

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 12:21:18 PM   
hankj

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: WineGuyDelMar

My first memorable purchases were four cases of 1978 BV Private Reserve and I still buy a little of this wine today. I don't think todays wines are nearly as good as some of these in the 70's and early 80's but my memory is fading. I actually traded a case of 1978 BV Private reserve for a case of 1986 Pichon LaLande and THAT was the beginning of my Bordeaux adventure.

Rick



Cool story, and well played Rick

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 12:46:31 PM   
Smaragd

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: hankj


I think this was what your were getting at OP? Bottles that make you nostalgic?


Exactly what i was getting at!

There was a wine piece in the NY Times a couple years back about Salice Salentino in which the author described how Taurino SS was his go-to grocery store wine many years ago. I recalled that the same was true for me. I have to say though, the vintages I was drinking (96, 96, 98?) were full of classic "rose petal and tar" notes that I almost don't find anywhere anymore - except very expensive Taurasi and Barolo. Either the wines changed or my tastebuds have dulled - maybe both.

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 12:58:04 PM   
hankj

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Smaragd

There was a wine piece in the NY Times a couple years back about Salice Salentino in which the author described how Taurino SS was his go-to grocery store wine many years ago. I recalled that the same was true for me. I have to say though, the vintages I was drinking (96, 96, 98?) were full of classic "rose petal and tar" notes that I almost don't find anywhere anymore - except very expensive Taurasi and Barolo. Either the wines changed or my tastebuds have dulled - maybe both.


Taurasi - now there's quite the sophisticated supermarket wine for a fairly fledgling enthusiast. Probably set you up well to make far fewer cellar mistakes than if you'd started with some fat boozy red.

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 1:07:20 PM   
Slye

 

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Status: offline 		The wine that got me hooked was a 1971 Chateau Lyonnat. I have a few of them (later vintages) just in my cellar purely for nostalgia's sake.

I also remember a 1974 Sterling Cab back in those days -- and I still have one of those in my cellar, from my first few years of wine madness. Still waiting for an appropriately special occasion to open it.

I also remember Salice Salentino as a go-to red in the 1980s and later. My other go to reds back then were Riojas -- if one splurged between 5 and 10 dollars there was an amazing wine inside. I remember a 1971 Rioja for about $5 (I can't for the life of me remember what it was, other than it was not one of the more well known houses), and it was just incredible. It drank beautifully on opening, and a few days later was still growing strong. I do wish I had kept some of those.

Swerve! Off of memory line. Back to today. Thanks for the detour!

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 1:08:46 PM   
Smaragd

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: hankj

Taurasi - now there's quite the sophisticated supermarket wine for a fairly fledgling enthusiast. Probably set you up well to make far fewer cellar mistakes than if you'd started with some fat boozy red.


No no, my point was that i was getting very good grocery store Salice Salentino, and that the only place i can get as similar experience today is taurasi and barolo...

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 6:16:21 PM   
KPB

 

Posts: 4648
Joined: 11/25/2012
From: Ithaca, New York
Status: offline 		On the nostalgia front, I vividly remember a marathon tasting with a Robert Arnoux in Burgundy that culminated with the 88 Romanee St Vivant from the barrel. OMG, what a wine. I would love to try that today.

But the Dunn HM 83 brings back a story too. I took that wine to a tasting in the U.K., thinking it would be Napa at its best. WA gave it 99+pts and I trusted the TN. So we get to the tasting, which tuned out to be noveaux Beaujolais, and attended mostly by blue-collar families. The Dunn was ferocious. But these British metal workers... tough guys. So, they pretended to love the stuff... real manly wine...

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/12/2018 6:57:34 PM   
WineGuyCO

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: hankj



Cool story, and well played Rick


hankj ,

Up to the trade for the 1986 Pichon LaLande I had only drank California Cabs but some good ones in great/good vintages 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978& 1979 from Krug ( 1974 Charles Krug was an early Ah ha moment) Mondavi & BV. I waited tables in fine restaurants to put myself through college so got into fine wine young.

A friend of mine was the wine buyer at a local grocery store who was also close to my age and had a small wine Group and also knew his wines. I hadn't ever had a Bordeaux and I tried a few with his group. Eye opener for sure and a different animal than what I had been drinking.

I was down to two cases of the '78 BV PR and asked him if I could trade a case straight up for the Pichon LaLande and he did. I think the Pichon was $39.99 at the time so good trade.

Shortly thereafter I started my own wine Group with some financial advisor friends who still meet to this day. One of them New a Superior Court judge in SD who piggy backed on Liquor Barn (now defunct) 1st traunch Bordeaux Futures. We bought Bordeaux futures starting in 1987 which was a short list but bought a lot in 1988, 1989 & 1990. I back filled 1982, 1985 & 1986 so drank a lot of Bordeaux for many years.Have enjoyed this great hobby for many years. I lament the current Bordeaux prices and only dream of the good old days.

Rick

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/13/2018 7:29:29 AM   
avalonandl

 

Posts: 230
Joined: 11/26/2015
From: Troy, Mich
Status: offline 		1975 Leoville Las Cases

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Drinking and collecting wine since 1979. A 1974 Mondavi Cabernet was my AHA moment....

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/13/2018 10:35:06 AM   
jmc167

 

Posts: 80
Joined: 12/30/2015
From: Portland, Or
Status: offline 		Well unluckily (or perhaps luckily?) it was only two or three years ago that I decided if I am going to drink wine as might as well learn about and drink good wine. Since I am on the other side of 55 I would say that while I am young, I do not think I will have a "youth" as far as wine goes....

That being said, the thing that made be passionate about wine was a fantastic tour I had in the Northern Rhone with a former wine maker, this guy was just awesome. We stopped in multiple fields and learned about the different trellising techniques, talked about the age of the vines and how that impacted the soil, got into the dirt and compared the composition of the different fields, and all this set the context for our visits to the vineyards. Then when tasting wines we could "make sense of the terrior".

So the "nostalgic" wine for me (although I am still aging the bottles I brought back) is the Pierre Gaillard Côte-Rôtie Rose Pourpre. This is a single block wine and of all the wines we tasted from Condrieu, Cotie Rotie, Saint Joseph, and Hermitage, the one that stood out.




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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/13/2018 11:01:35 AM   
Smaragd

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: jmc167

Well unluckily (or perhaps luckily?) it was only two or three years ago that I decided if I am going to drink wine as might as well learn about and drink good wine.



Oh, I didn't learn about wine really until about 5 years ago, after a good 15-20 years of drinking it constantly. I was amazed by the fact that one can drink it so regularly and really not learn much about what one is tasting until putting the effort in. Nevertheless, those tastes (Salice Salentino, White Bordeaux) were hugely impressive because when I somewhat recently started reading about and taking notes on what I was tasting, I had some wines that brought back very powerful nostalgic feelings and they turned out to be wines that showed strong identity or terroir.

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/13/2018 11:48:37 AM   
dsGris

 

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Status: offline 		Back in the 70s I started making wine out of local and not so local grapes with the intent of making better wine than I could by, nothing fancy or expensive, though you could buy a good bottle for well under $10, my cost being in the $5 range. I would take wine making classes, one being given by a local beer aficionado, Fred Eckhardt who was developing sake recipes and a legend in the beer community. These classes ended up being tasting sessions of the wines we were making. For the last class, Fred brought a good Bordeaux for us to sample, no smart phone to take a pic and for the life of me cannot remember the name, but I can still remember the taste! I made a range of red and white wines, trying to get a bold Pinot, but failed and got a weak, insipid AFWE red that mirrors what I drink and enjoy now. It only took 40 years.

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/13/2018 5:00:23 PM   
khmark7

 

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Status: offline 		Cheap German white wines when i was in college (early 90's) & California Zinfandel (both red & white)

Recent years - 1996 Cinq Cepages, 1996 Bordeaux, assorted South African reds just post apartheid.

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/13/2018 7:31:07 PM   
jmc167

 

Posts: 80
Joined: 12/30/2015
From: Portland, Or
Status: offline 		Smaragd - Thanks for the feedback, I was the same way and just got tired of mostly mediocre wines. Seems we have walked similar paths...

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/14/2018 6:07:17 PM   
PinotPhile

 

Posts: 3728
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Status: offline 		Santa Rita 120 Merlot. Actually prefer the Cab now, but the Merlot gets credit for starting me on red wines. Still love Chilean reds and respect the value they can deliver. One of our highest-ranked reds last year was a Chilean Syrah.

Big red Cheers!

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/15/2018 5:40:11 AM   
Smaragd

 

Posts: 717
Joined: 2/3/2017
From: New York City
Status: offline 		So generally, most of you sound like your first sips of wine were pretty high-end and/or well informed!

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RE: Wines we first tasted in our "youth" and ... - 1/15/2018 6:23:50 AM   
CranBurgundy

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Smaragd

So generally, most of you sound like your first sips of wine were pretty high-end and/or well informed!


Arrowood certainly wasn't the first wine I tried. It was the first Cab I bought for myself in any quantity more than a single bottle though. Ruffino's Ducale Oro Riserva was my favorite Italian wine back then. So my small wine rack in the dining room consisted of Arrowood Reserve Speciale, Arrowood Grand Archer, Ruffino Ducale Oro, and Ruffino Chianti Classico. That's it - 4 bottles from 2 producers were my regular purchases in the beginning at my first apartment, mostly because I drank dark beer or rums more often.

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Vote NO on Proposition S1ct1516 "BAN the CRAN!" this Election Day.

“Let it be recorded: henceforth, December 15 shall be known as 'The Day of Dennis'.” - Prof. Ken "KPB" Birman, 12/17/23

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