Tuesday, March 11, 2008

My Love Affair with Wine

My mother had a Mexican mum and a Hungarian dad. She had no hangups about alcohol as far as "don't ever drink it!" or "nothing until you are 21!" In her home, everybody was served wine on special occasions--just the portion size changed as the child grew into an adult. Although my dad was not raised that way, he quickly adapted to my mother's concept of how to introduce alcohol in the house, and therefore even when I was quite little, I was allowed a small thimbleful of whatever they had to try.

Meanwhile, my dad was being turned on to wine by a good friend of his. This started in the 70s, and his friend was really into French wine. Of course, by this time the famous Judgement of Paris had already happened and now folks were taking California wines quite seriously, but that didn't stop my dad's friend from still focusing on France as his preferred country of origin for his wine. At first, dad didn't get the wine thing; my mom did, of course, but not my Kentucky dad whose experience with drinking included beer and whatever the neighbor made. One day he was given something I would never go out and buy to drink: Lancers rose (a Portuguese medium sweet wine with some fizz, actually). He liked it, and he proceeded from there to dive into the French wines his friend loved. And that's what he served us.

How many kids can say they were raised on Hermitage? That was the first appellation to entice my dad badly enough to buy cases. At that point in our family history, my dad was a practicing orthodontist, so purchasing cases of an expensive wine was not unacceptable. I guess that's why my favorite region to this day, though, is the Rhone. I love Cote Rotie, Chat. du Pape, Gigondas...all the Rhones I've tried, really. Because my dad loved red over white, no matter what the trends, that's what I was trained to love too. I love sparkling wines, whites, and dry roses...but my first choice is always a good, balanced red of some sort (except pinotage--I hate all pinotage I've ever tried).

While all my friends were getting ripped left and right in college, I didn't do so very often. Alcohol was never a forbidden fruit for me, so it just didn't tempt. And then after college, well, I married a man with some issues with alcohol, so I pretty much rarely drank after that point. I had to be sober to drive the car for us or to make responsible decisions with the kids or whatnot. For years, it was only a special occasion when I whipped out a bottle of wine.

And then I moved out. No longer needing to be the responsible adult at all times helped. When my ex took the kids, I could kick back and have a few glasses of whatever I enjoyed, and there was no consequences.

Then something odd happened almost three years ago: I fell back in love with wine, totally and head over heals. I am not sure if being in love with a Frenchman did it or what--I absolutely know ten times as much wine as he does and like it more, so maybe it's just me! But there I was, savoring and sipping wine like I hadn't done since I was a teen and sitting around the table, a nice Hermitage popped open for Christmas or a birthday. Suddenly, it mattered more to me than it ever did. I began reading frantically, watching programs, talking to wine geeks, and becoming more and more enraptured with all things vine related. I love to match a wine with a meal, making the dish more than it was without the wine (braised beef short ribs and pinot noir? Awesome!). I love to hunt out bargains to savor, whether white/red/rose/sparkling (Hugues Beaulieu Picpoul de Pinet Cotes de Languedoc Blanc--best white wine bargain under $10 in my opinion). Even better, I like to take friends of mine who claim to not like wine at all and help them find something to their taste (just ask my friend Amy! she's now a regular wine drinker thanks to my intrusiveness...haha!). It's all fun.

Having a glass or two of wine with dinner most nights is, indeed, responsible for some of the weight gain I've done over the last three years. But you know what? It's been worth it! I think my devout appreciation for wine is now firmly entrenched in my mind. And one day--you just watch!--I'll have a small wine cellar of my own. But first, I'll have to win the lottery....

11 comments:

NWJR said...

A good Pinotage is a wonderful thing to behold--but they're very price-sensitive. The cheap ones taste gamey, and horrible.

But oh, a good one is a thing of beauty indeed.

And I'm sorry...I still don't take California wines seriously. ;-)

Kira said...

You know, I have never had a pricy pinotage, so you may have a point there. But I would also like to add that I generally have crap luck with ALL So. African wines! I know they've come a long way in the last decade and supposedly produce some really good stuff, but everything I've ever tried has been a nose-wrinkler. I'm game for recommendations, though :)

Feisty Frida said...

I begun my "god I love wine" journey a few years ago, and I have so so much to learn still, but am enjoying the learning process tremendously.

Kira said...

Well, FF, there's ALWAYS something to learn. One of the most comforting facts about wine knowledge is that no matter how learned somebody comes across, there's still tons he or she does NOT know. My favorite part about the learning process, though, is the palate training exercises ;) We have to drink to understand it, yes??? :)

Grant said...

It's time to kick it up a notch and move on to bourbon. And heroin.

NWJR said...

I found a Spanish wine I love...and I'm not a big fan of Spanish wines. Try this one (hey, it won't break the bank, so you're not out much if you don't like it):

http://tinyurl.com/2xzaaf

Amanda said...

I'm in love with Orin Swift's The Prisoner. It's a blend, and it's replaced shiraz as my absolute favorite wine. I prefer the 2003, but I wouldn't turn down the '05 or '06.

I can't find it around here though. Columbia is the closest retailer, but I'm working on the guy at the Seneca store. He's special ordering it once a month for me.

http://www.orinswift.com/wine/the_prisoner.php

Adrianne said...

My family is Italian and that is how I was raised. I would be allowed to have it with dinner on special occasions. Even Port after Christmas dinner. Ah and they wonder why I am an alcoholic! LOL.

Kira said...

Grant--I already did bourbon. And barfed. And that's thanks to you. So there ;)

NWJR--you know, unlike you, I actually LIKE Spanish wines (well, from two or three regions at least). I'll try and check it out and see if I can hunt it down locally.

Amanda--ok, that's intriguing. When are you having your next bash? and will this wine be available? I'll try to remember that the wine is available in Cola because sometimes we end up down there, and maybe we could pick you up some while we're there. WHERE in Cola do you find it?

SSC--if you have ANY Italian wines you recommend, I'm all ears. Out of all the major countries who produce wine (in my mind, US, Australia, France, Italy, Germany, Spain...and heck, even Argentina and Chile), I know the least about Italian wine. And I usually pick out crappy ones when I pick one out. Sigh. But port! I love port. I'm all about the dessert wines :)

NWJR said...

Try this pinotage. If you don't like it, I'll never recommend another one again. Promise!

http://eclectic-dilettante.blogspot.com/2008/05/nederburg-pinotage-2006.html

NWJR said...

GAH. The link broke.

Here it is again, in a more user-friendly form:

http://tinyurl.com/6mqfr8