Recently I noticed that many of the wines I get excited about and that I tend to choose and buy are based more on a memory or experience that I associate with the wine than any other reason. What about you? Do you have a fond memory of a wine you enjoyed that special someone or at a great party or for just about any other reason?
My choices are definitely associated with wines I’ve come across while traveling locally and internationally. But it’s more than just the travel that has made these wines special to me. It’s the entire experience that surrounded my introduction to that wine. I know I should probably want and enjoy a wine because it has more of oak taste or hints of berries or the influence of the soils, but for me it can be as simple as a memory that goes with the wine. Now I’m not saying I’m going to drink a crappy wine just because the memory was awesome, but for me that has rarely happened.
Let me share some of my memories and wines that go with them.
Most recently my sister and I were at the Gourmet Food and Wine Show in Toronto and we were walking around hitting the wine regions that we normally enjoy. Then as we headed down one of the aisles we were pleasantly surprised to see the winery Between the Lines from Niagara, Ontario. We almost ran over to their booth to see if they had the wines that we had tried and enjoyed while on a wine tour in Niagara a few years ago. This winery was the last of our tour that day and it was one of the best. Their Cabernet Franc and their unique Lemberger really stuck with my sister and I. These wines were great, but it’s that memory of spending the day with my sister, just the two of us doing something we enjoy together, that our father introduced us to.
Another great memory that has brought me to, what I feel are, some great wines was a recently trip to the southern hemisphere. Specifically to New Zealand. Now I’m already a lover of new world wines from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, but it was this trip that gave me a very unique experience and introduction to great wines and wineries. I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts and in some videos that I got the opportunity to meet with some winemakers one on one for a wine series I was working on. It was those meetings with wonderful people, the atmosphere, the day, the trip and so much more. Those wines I learned about and tasted have really stayed with me.
When I walk into the LCBO and see bottles of the Trinity Hill Syrah on display in the front of the store, I pick up a feel bottles to enjoy and share with friends. I apologize to those friends if I bore them with my stories about the wine, the winery and memories of the trip, but to see the label, read the name and taste the wine bring me back to a wonderful place.
Or as I sit at a restaurant in Toronto and see on the menu Mapmaker from Staete Landt Vineyards I immediately order a glass so that I can be transported back to that gorgeous day in the Marlborough region of New Zealand, where I met the most lovely team at the Vineyard. They made the experience so memorable, that just a sip sends me right back. And I remember that they told me that many of their wines can be found in restaurants in Canada and less of them in the LCBO. So it was my lucky day to find it on this side of the world.
There are many more memories, but I would love to hear how you choose some of your wines. Is it based on a memory, a varietal, or something far more fancy?