Does There Come A Time When The Search For Epiphany Experiences Ceases?

After you’ve been at this for a few decades, you come to realize that the truely remarkable experiences with wine are far and inbetween. While those with regular access to top tier wines may be the exception, even those with high quality collections are more apt to have good to excellent experiences than anything that just changes one’s understanding of what wine can be. (I’ve deliberately avoided using the word profound.) And I would guess that for many, the search for the holy grail played a large role in the pursuit of this endeavor. So, does there come a time when you relax and enjoy what it is you have, having let go of the search for a wine that exceeds all expectations?

The epiphany for me is the family and friends I share it with.

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Yes, at the age of about 50, when wisdom and happiness prevail.

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It would be an oxymoron to have lots of epiphanies. The bigger lesson is to find the things that make you happy most often. Enjoy the epiphanies for the everyday pleasures they pushed you to find.

Definition of the word epiphany aside, I understand your question as searching for wine experiences that transcend perceived possibilities or expectations. For me that still happens even having been swimming in this pool for over 30 years. Not chasing it per se but still giving myself the opportunity for it to happen.

I find epiphany moments come with people and company driving the moment and wine is involved vs. wine being the source of the epiphany.

I continue to seek new experiences and discoveries, but I am not really expecting the wham, bam, thank you ma’am epiphany moment.

Pushing 60 here. The search for the Epiphany Experience is ongoing, no issues there. but the desire to buy quantities of ‘Hey, that’s a great deal’ wine is gone.

I am always on the lookout to find a special or wow-ish wine, Michael, but my goals for wine are more modest than yours. “Epiphanies”, which to me are special sudden insights or experiences, are always welcome. Unfortunately, in my experience, searching for them or trying to make them happen seldom gets you there. We can make ourselves ready and open to them at best, but they come when they come.
Safe and happy travels on your road to Damascus!

Kris put it perfectly.

I don’t think so.
I’ve been doing this 50+ years and I still get dazzled.
Best, Jim

I still hope for them and am on the lookout for them, but I wouldn’t say I “chase” them.

I will be 53 this week, and I still have the experiences, but I haven’t gone specifically looking for them in a very long time.

I’ve had a few peak or epiphany wine experiences, meaning my understanding of what a wine could be was changed by the beauty of the experience. More often I’ve been in awe of a wine’s beauty even if it is not an epiphany/eye opening experience. Were the settings and people part of that? Maybe, but I can distinguish between those peak experiences where it was primarily about the wine and those where it was as much about other factors.

Do I “search” for more of these? Not in the sense that I open bottles expecting them or that I would be disappointed if I didn’t have one. Do I hope for a few more? Sure. if they happen they happen. And I hope I can provide one or two for others by sharing bottles.

Epiphanies are wonderful, but it seems to me, they are things that catch you by surprise rather than you chasing this Holy Grail.

I think there are more let-downs in that process.

I honestly have more pleasure from day-to-day solid wines that hit my sweet spot, pair well with dinner, and are affordable. While I certainly buy and pop some higher-end wines, including a 98 La Conseillante this weekend, which really did deliver, sometimes they don’t and it’s a bummer.

My biggest epiphany was in the mid-90s at a holiday weekend with my family where we had three days of comparative tastings of Napa and Bordeaux. I was hooked from that day forward on Bordeaux, and have never really varied much from that core staple. I even have some of the wine that did it to me, a lovely sleeper, 1990 Chateau La Louviere. We also had Montrose, Pichon Baron, Olivier, Caymus, Silverado, Mondavi, et al. But that dusty, earthy, gravelly La Louv stuck.

A couple other epiphanies were 1995 Clape Cornas and 1989 Raffault Chinon, both embarking me on pursuits of those regions that have continued to this day. Juge was revelatory. As was Rougeard. And Vatan.

I don’t chase epiphanies but am certainly always hoping to find one. Mainly I look to learn about interesting wines. The latter is more my primary focus but both experiences are welcomed any day. Expectations of anything, including wine epiphanies, are fraught with disappointment. What has changed for me is that the “hunt” for x, y or z at near all costs is gone. I did that for well over 25 years and enjoyed it. I now have a cellar of wines I like but have been whittling it down since I overbought during my go go years.

This.

If by epiphany you mean a transformative first encounter with the possibilities of wine, then obviously those are going to be less as you get older. But I still regularly have profound experiences with wine where I am surprised by the complexity, depth, and beauty of what I am drinking. If that stopped and wine was just another beverage that tasted really good I would sell my collection, the prices are in excess of what I would pay for something that just “tasted good”. (One reason I roll my eyes at “this is delicious” tasting notes – milkshakes are delicious and a whole lot cheaper than wine).

Perhaps you are drinking too many young fruit bomb Napa cabs?

A valid case can be made that there are many more disappointments to be had with aged Burgundy than with young Napa Valley Cabernets.

Funny, you equate milkshakes with delicious and then go on to accuse the OP of possibley drinking too many “milkshakes”.