The Unique Wines that changed my life!
Any glass of wine is always good company, most of the times offers a nice story to tell, and for sure a pleasant pairing for food. I think we’re on the same page for that.
Years are passing having you drinking, sipping and enjoying different kinds of wine. In every layer, complexity and flavour depth and you know by now what you like and what you don’t like as much.
There has been that time, though that in a moment you least expect, you meet and savour one of your best experiences. It’s not the most expensive, it’s not the most famous or the most awarded. It is the one that gives you a sensual satisfaction and even after years, when you recall the moment that reached your lips, you can feel and describe every single aroma and texture of it.
Like love on first sight! <3
My first trip to Argentina was a quick stay in Buenos Aires.
In between the full city sight seeing, I managed to visit a small wine shop near by my hotel. Something between Spanish language and Italian hand gestures lead me to a bottle of Rutini Antologia Malbec 2009. Super excited as I was, I brought it back home, and since I didn’t have a wine fridge or a cellar (!), I created a small cave in my wardrobe and stored it there, fancily laying on its side, and with the air conditioning always on, since I was in Dubai either way.
I’m gonna age it, I said!
Laugh!
I’m laughing as well as I’m writing right now! Needless to say that I was checking the bottle every other day to make sure it was ok. And I had never felt more happy about the dust that was gradually sitting on top of the bottle!
Anyway, the wardrobe ageing process lasted for 2 months. I couldn’t wait any longer! Steak, friends and popped open!
Such an incredible product, so well made, that even an amateur like me at the moment could get all the greatness of complexity, maturation, ageing, soil and winemaking. A new world wine that really brought to me memories of the Bordeaux region that I was so used to drink. Intense aromas of leather, vanilla, violets, plum, blackcurrant, game and a rich mouthfeel that if you ask me now, I kinda regret having opened it so early. Oh well.. its job was well done to me!
If you ask me what I think of when I hear the words butter and biscuit, I’ll tell you Puligny-Montrachet.
The nose was so intense and powerful, the finish so long, that I can describe it word by word, sensation by sensation. It’s one of those small sips that formed an indelible memory in my brain and will subsequently follow me for the rest of my life! So poetic, as my own writing!
Christmas market in Europe and all you think of is Gluwein out of a plastic cup while strolling around the cold streets!
Pretty picture for sure. But I was lucky enough when I found myself in a small village in Neustadt, Frankfurt, Germany, and a newly opened wine shop that was offering a free taste of all its Rieslings! It was that revealing moment when you gradually move from Kabinet Trocken to Spatlese, to Auslese and you see the uniqueness of this amazing grape. The complexity was so dynamic that Riesling still remains one of my favourite choices.
Koehler-Ruprecht R Kallstadter Saumagen Riesling Kabinett Trocken 2012, Pfalz, Germany
On a quick trip to Cape Town, a colleague suggested we do a winery tour with the local hop-on hop-off bus.
The autumn rainy atmosphere helped so much and it was ideal for the emblematic winery of Groot Constantia. Generous tasting portions and the 2012 Groot Constantia Gouverneurs Reserve Red. A Bordeaux blend that made me absolutely love the New World version of the wines that I’ll always adore. South Africa ever since was placed in my map of “always pleasantly surprised”.
2012 Groot Constantia Gouverneurs Reserve Red, Constantia, South Africa
Throughout the years, I most certainly had better, more expensive or maybe more complex wines than the above, however, those four gave me a different perspective on what wine is all about; the winemaker, the terroir, the people, the timing.
It’s a piece of art that manages to speak and convey a, most probably, completely different message to each person that tastes it.
Wine can bring so many emotions and it always proves it doesn’t matter if it’s the most expensive and recherché vintage of famous producer, or simply the one that will remark your love at first sight with the wines of the world.
Enjoy!