Wine is kind of having a moment right now. As the world continues to shelter in place and bars, restaurants, and wineries remain closed, people are cooking and drinking at home more. Even though we may be confined to our homes, millions of people are connected through their love of wine. The right wine has the incredible power to take a moment and make it magical and memorable. Even just the aroma of your favorite wine can conjure up some of your fondest memories and experiences. It’s commonly said in psychology that, out of the five senses, smell is most closely linked to our memories. This is because smell is processed by the olfactory bulb, part of the limbic system that deals with memory and emotion. Think about the memories that arise when you smell fresh cut grass, your favorite meal, or the earth after the first rain of the season. Chances are, some of your fondest and most powerful memories are connected to your favorite scents.
Any wine lover can attest to having a “wine moment” where the taste or aroma of a glass of wine conjures up a memory, idea, a song, a place, or even a piece of art. It’s these priceless moments that a glass of wine can elicit that makes it such a magical drink. Although our team is currently separated by continents, time zones, and oceans, we all wanted to share our wine moments that make us feel connected, to each other and to happy times in our lives.
My personal wine moment came when we were tasting German gewurztraminer in a wine tasting class in culinary school...
The first moment I smelled and sipped it, I had an out-of-body experience. I closed my eyes and out of the recesses of my mind came a memory I hadn’t pondered for at least 10 years. It took me right back into my childhood on a summer afternoon in Taipei, Taiwan. Summer in Taiwan means Lychee season, and this particular afternoon my parents had made a whole batch of fresh lychee jelly and left it in the fridge with me home alone. It was something I knew I shouldn’t have done, but the temptation was too strong. I ended up eating the entire batch of lychee jelly which was meant for the whole family in an afternoon while watching cartoons. I don’t think anyone else in the room that day who was tasting the wine had the same experience I did, as growing up in Taiwan gave me a unique perspective on gewurztraminer.
Warm weather in the United Kingdom is hard to come by, so you often find local Brits flocking outdoors when they have the chance...
My girlfriend and I had booked Restaurant Story, which was a small glass house in the middle of a road seemingly hidden from the rest of the world. Our friends had recommended this meal to us as it described the chef’s life story through their seven course menu. We did not hesitate to order the full wine pairing as we were ready to embrace a lazy Saturday overlooking the clear blue skies. As we drank our red wine with one course after the other, I couldn’t help but realize this warm fuzzy feeling that began to brew, almost as if the weather and wine were working in tandem. After every course and every sip of wine, I can’t help but feel butterflies all over again as I enjoyed that perfectly warm Saturday afternoon with the person I wanted to enjoy it with most. Suffice to say, we drank every last sip and remember that day as if it were yesterday.
My most memorable wine moment is when I first experienced how transformative a good food and wine pairing can be...
I had bought a reasonably priced wine to drink with dinner, a pesto pasta. The wine on its own was good for a casual night in, nothing really spectacular, but was a great value for the price. As I started to eat, I took a sip of the wine. Playing off of the intensity of the basil, the wine revealed incredible ruby-toned fruit flavors that ended with the perfect balance of tannin. I couldn’t believe how much better both the food and the wine had become just by enjoying them together. I’m no chef, so I was proud to have stumbled across such a great pairing. To this day I still pick up a bottle of that wine whenever I have pesto.
Over the last few years, I’ve come to look at wine as something to be shared, often communal. It’s something to be enjoyed with food, friends and loved ones...
I was in Las Vegas this past summer, visiting a few of my close friends. We decided to meet up at a restaurant that we had all worked at in the past. I brought 8 bottles of different wines with me because I knew we were going to be there for a while and in my opinion, it’s better to have too much than not enough! We sat outside on the patio and soon we were drinking the wine while talking, laughing and catching up on life. The next thing I knew, the three surrounding tables, complete strangers, had come over and joined us bringing their own bottles of wine with them. The wine flowed that night, new friends were made, memories were made. It was the wine though that sparked it all. To hear others talk about the wine that they had brought, they all had a reason. It had nothing to do with the wine being cheap or expensive. It was all about memories they had that they associated the wine with- it went great with a particular dish, it was the wine they had on their wedding day and they drink it on their anniversary every year, the aromas of the green apples reminded them of home. It made me realize that they were just as excited to share their story as they were to share their wine. They wanted me to experience what they had the first time they took that sip. It ended up being an incredible time, definitely one of my fondest wine moments.
I’m from a small town in south Georgia, and while I grew up to appreciate amazing home-cooked food and drink, wine isn’t very popular down there...
But when I was a junior in college I studied art in Tuscany, and one of the best weekends of my life was when my roommates and I (against our program’s wishes) took a train to Cinque Terre. I still vividly remember it. Just a gorgeous turquoise coast filled with yachts, plates of cantaloupe and prosciutto dotting the beach, different languages filling the air. We spent the day swimming and rock jumping and sleeping in the sand. It was exhausting in the best way. When the sun started to set we walked barefoot into town to find a café, and we all ordered various seafood pastas with a few bottles of Pinot Grigio to go. We found an overlook to sit on, popped our corks, and had the best supper in the world, right on the Riviera. I have no idea if it was “good” Pinot Grigio, but that was the night wine left its mark on me. It was delicious, and I remember just feeling so lucky and at peace. Sometimes I look up Italian wines hoping I’ll recognize the label, but other times I like not knowing what it was or where to find it, so I can just keep it as a memory.
We at WineSalon believe that wine should be experienced like art, with your intuition first and intellect second. Don’t let anyone tell you what you should experience from wine from a theoretical or intellectual standpoint. Own your authentic experience, because that’s when wine becomes more than just a drink- it becomes a stimulus for creating priceless wine moments. Now more than ever, it’s important to take some time for yourself, to cherish the people you love, and just maybe create some new moments worth celebrating.
Cheers—
The WineSalon Team