My Eureka Wine Moment

Every wine lover will experience a “Eureka” moment at some point in time in their wine journey that will fundamentally change the way they think about wine and set them off on new and different paths in their wine adventure. My Eureka moment happened 23 years ago, and I’ve never been the same since! Here’s my story.

My wine journey has been a constant learning experience as I have explored different varieties, styles, terroirs, and philosophical approaches to wine. While I have spent plenty of time reading about wine and taking courses to learn more about wine, most of my educational approach has focused on tasting as many wines as possible. Because tasting and drinking wine is the best (and fastest!) way to learn about it.

So, I’ve tasted thousands of wines over the past 25 years – some of them have been absolutely horrible, while others have been sublime and magnificent. But only one so far has been profound and transformative for me. That one wine is my Eureka wine, the wine that fundamentally changed how I thought about and experienced wine for all time.

The word “Eureka”, translated from the original Greek, means, “I have found it!”. It’s also used as an exclamation of triumph at a discovery. And that’s exactly how I felt when I tasted this wine. It was 2000 and Laurie and I were joining her parents Mike and Linda for a wine tasting dinner at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in downtown Washington DC. The dinner showcased Calera wines, one of the greatest producers of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the U.S. Calera was founded in the early 70’s by Josh Jensen, who spent two years searching for the perfect limestone-rich hillside soils in California before finally purchasing the land that would eventually produce his famous single vineyard Pinot Noirs.

The wine dinner included tastings of Calera’s Chardonnay and single vineyard Pinot Noirs. Josh Jensen was there that night to guide us through the wine and food pairings – it was an absolutely fantastic evening, and all the wines were superb. The dinner ended with a caramel flan paired with a rare bottling of a sweet dessert wine made from Jensen’s Viognier-planted vineyard. I remember him telling us that the wine wasn’t available for sale since it was made in such limited quantities. Instead, he gave the bottles away to family and friends and on occasion, wine lovers like us who attended his wine tasting dinners!

Now, I’m not a big dessert wine guy – while I appreciate these sweet wines and enjoy them when I have them, they aren’t even close to my favorite wines which tend to be dry white and red wines from California and the Pacific Northwest. So, imagine my shock and surprise when I sipped this wine for the first time and immediately froze. The wine was like nothing else I had ever tasted. It was rich and unctuous, with an explosion of ripe pineapple, apricot, honey, and burnt caramel on the tongue. The finish lingered for what seemed like minutes, with acidity and light spice that cut through the richness of the wine and provided a perfect counterpoint to the sweetness of the wine.

It was the first wine I had ever tasted that I considered absolutely perfect in every way. It showcased the ideal for what a perfectly balanced wine should taste like, and it set a new standard for me for how complex and profound a wine can be when produced by the hands of a master. It left me speechless (which doesn’t happen often as Laurie would tell you!). Everything about the wine was in perfect harmony, and there wasn’t a single flaw. From that point on, I would compare and critique every single wine I tasted with that one (and I still do!).

The inspiration for this wine, the Calera Viognier Doux, was the famous ice wines from Canada. But instead of being a late harvest wine where the grapes are allowed to freeze on the vines, the Viognier grapes for this wine were pressed and then the juice frozen and set aside for several months. The frozen juice was then slowly thawed to concentrate it and then fermented to achieve the perfect level of sweetness (about 15 percent residual sugar).

I remember after I returned to my senses, I turned to Laurie and said, “I’ll never taste a wine this good again!”. Apparently, accordingly to Laurie, I proclaimed this in a very sad, plaintive, and melancholy voice. In fact, it was so pathetic that she let me finish hers that night! Fast forward a few months later and I was on my way to Monterey, California for a work trip to the Naval Post Graduate School. On my way, I decided to take a detour and visit the Calera winery for a tour and wine tasting. Much to my delight and surprise, my wonderful mother-in-law Linda had contacted the winery and Josh Jensen and was able to convince him to sell her a bottle of the Viognier Doux to give to me upon my arrival! So, the story ends happily as I was able to enjoy another bottle of that life-changing wine a few years later, courtesy of Linda!

They now produce this wine, still in limited quantities, and sell it only at the winery (or via their on-line store). I haven’t yet bought a bottle of the newer vintages of this wine though – I think I’m just worried that it won’t live up to the original I tasted 23 years ago, and I don’t want anything to sully that Eureka moment for me. Still, I’m pretty confident I will eventually give in and buy a bottle or two to try – life is too short not too!

So, tell me, have you ever had a Eureka moment drinking a particular wine? If so, what was it like and what made it so special and life-changing? Also, if your answer to my question above is, “I don’t know!”, then that simply means you have definitely NOT had that Eureka moment yet – I guarantee that you would know if you had! So, you have something to look forward to – cheers!

I’ll be taking my usual break from blogging during the month of June. But I’ll be back in early July with a post that shares some pearls of wisdom from two years of retirement! Until then, I hope everyone enjoys the start of summer vacations and lazy days enjoying the warm weather – see you back here in July!