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How I Got Started In Wine

Before I knew better, a French label and a price over $10 were my only clues to finding an enjoyable wine. Color, age and origination meant little in the selection process, if you would call my simple method even that. Something told me white "went with" white food like fish and chicken; reds were for red meat. Wine with bubbles or "off-color" were for picnics and celebrations. God, was I missing out.

Over a few years of exploration and experimentation and education, together with a lot of question asking, wine clubs and tastings, I discovered how simple little grapes can develop, be nurtured, coaxed, and even forced against their will, to provide rewards of taste, smell, even feel (and something called "terroir"), beyond imagination.

"How can a grape do this?" I often asked myself. I've yet to find anything else that varies from spare to lush, bare-bones naked to voluptuousness, flowered to steely, sweetly fruited or spicy, almost hot, and variously year to year and place to place as man and nature effect and affect the raw material provided by simple vines.

The vines themselves, young, mature, or ancient, even cloned, initiate the adventure and harbor the potential, unleashed with time, care and devotion to reward patience, provide instant gratification, or turn a profit. A combination of science, art and inspiration that knows no equal in civilization, maybe even the hallmark of civilization, lies in the bottle of wine.

My initiation was at the hands of my boss and his wine dealer. Much like the "other kind" of dealer, he delivered out of the trunk of his car. My boss had a connection to the dealer and led me to my first purchase of more than a single bottle of wine. He had cases of 1985 Simi Cabernet from California's Napa Valley (then, I didn't even know California had a "Napa Valley") that he offered for $9 a bottle. On a summer afternoon, after hours in my office, my eyes were opened as if in revelation.

We drank from coffee mugs, and the scent, color and taste remain embedded in my memory. Following their instructions, I sniffed first, then sipped, rolling the drink over my tongue "This is wine? I asked myself. Wow! I bought a case, and was hooked. Little did I know, and I would've told you you were crazy if you'd predicted it, that in a year I would be paying more than that for a single bottle, 6 or 12 at a time. Gladly. And laughing at my good fortune at the bargain. Maybe it was me who was crazy.

The boss and I followed our '85

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