Cherished Wine Moments

The story goes like this: My wife was travelling with a good friend of hers at the time through Southern France. She was in college and it was the Summer between her sophomore and junior years. While on a walk on the beach, they met another traveler who they befriended and who took them to dinner in a small restaurant on the coast. Italian wines were the specialty of the wine list. Their new friend ordered a Barolo. It was ethereal. Perfumed. Exotic. Romantic. Memorable. Perfect.

She told me about this wine epiphany some years later when we were dating. Since then, I searched to find a Barolo that lived up to her memory of that other Barolo. I was not successful. I gave up.

Then I had my own wine epiphany; I wasn’t ever going to be able to find that wine. That wine is more than just an excellent Barolo. That wine is a product of the beaches of Southern France. The smell of the salty air. A warm night in an exotic place with new and old friends. That Barolo is a memory and even that same Barolo (whatever it had been) would never live up to that sepia toned memory.

That is what wine is all about. It’s about the people you share it with. The place where you were when you enjoyed it. The food you paired it with or the sunset you watched while drinking it. My most cherished wines are those special wines that I have when I am with my family. During this holiday season, take time to make a new cherished wine moment.

Andy Chabot
Director of Food and Beverage