TN: Tasting a Memory

The question popped up on this forum the other day, “Why Wine”. I don’t believe I answered it with this response, but in hindsight, one reason is the ability for a taste of wine to take you back to a specific moment in time.

In late summer 2018, in anticipation of repatriating back to the US after 4 years living in Stockholm, my wife, our 9 month old and I took a long trip through Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Bulgaria. In Georgia, we started in the NW hiking in the Caucasus Mountains, before driving through the country to the SE wine lands, where we stayed in Sighnaghi, a town literally founded for wine tourism.

While there, one planned highlight was a dinner at the famous Pheasant’s Tears to celebrate my birthday. However, the day before, we were saddened to see a note on the door stating the restaurant was closed until the day after our reservation.

Saddened, my wife called and we were told to just come anyway. We were seated on a raised dining area as they prepared for a staff party to celebrate reopening below us, and we’re treated to a never ending parade of foods and wines.

On the last course before dessert, they brought us a bottle of 2008 Saperavi that had been kept on its skins, stems, etc. in qvevri for 8 years. We drank it and took in the seen as the rain poured outside and the staff played guitars and sang while eating and drinking below us. One of this incredible unique experiences you never forget.

As we prepared to leave, we jokingly asked if we could take a bottle of that wine with us (knowing they had very few bottles left), and given the festive was of the moment, were gifted one, with the vintage and grape hand written on it.

Tonight we cooked traditional Adjarian Khachapuri with imeruli and sulguni cheese and poppers open the bottle to relive a wonderful memory.

• 2008 Pheasant’s Tears Saperavi - Georgia, Kakheti (7/11/2020)
  2008 Saperavi experimental, kept on the skins in qvevri for 8 years before bottling. Purchased at the restaurant in Sighnaghi in August 2018. Decanted for 2 hours.

Color is a beautiful dark purple with crimson edges. No browning or other age showing. Nose has a reductive note you get in a lot of Georgian wines, as well as very dark blackberry and dark red berries. A bit of cedar and lead as well. Absolutely gorgeous spell.

On the tongue, it feels medium bodied. It has a bit of Brett, not disimilar to Musar, but has a very strong acid backbone very common in Saperavi wines. Has sour cherry and more blackberry as well as a bit of minerality and “woodsy-ness”. It finished very very dry.

A very nice wine for my flavor profile, made all the better by my memory of purchasing the bottle.

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What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing. Life is truly made worth it in moments like those.

Wow…amazing story. That must have been an unreal experience and what a great memory to have and bring back with this special bottle. Enjoy

Wonderful story. Thanks for sharing

What a great story about what sounds like an amazing experience. And reading “hiking the Caucasus Mountains with a 9 month old” impressed me more than almost anything I’ve read here recently

Gotta set the tone early!

Nice story. Reminds me a bit of one night when I was in Avignon on the Kermit Lynch buying trip. It was a Monday night, and we didn’t have any group dinner plans, so I was wandering the streets looking for a place to eat. I came across a small restaurant and the menu in the window looked interesting. So I walked in, and a man asked if I wanted a table for one, and I said I did and he pointed to a table. He took my order, brought my wine, served my food, and asked if everything was acceptable. He was absent for short periods, but I just figured he was getting things done as I was the only diner in the restaurant at the time.

After I was finished and we settled the tab, I said “This was an excellent dinner. Is it always this slow on a Monday night?” His response “Oh, we aren’t open on Mondays, but I was prepping for tomorrow so I thought I would cook for you.” I thought that was so cool, and something that would probably never happen in the U.S. Sadly, the next time I got back to Avignon the restaurant was closed.

Beautiful, Andrew! Wine opens the door to generous people and memorable experiences.

Very cool story!

such a great story!

things like this and Andrew’s story just would never happen in the US. but I so wish they would.

Wonderful post!

Great story, and amazing timing for me with the “memory” angle. This afternoon I pulled a wine from the cellar (96 Lagrange St Julien), and as I did I was flooded with the memory of my first bottle of Lagrange (probably an 82) with a client in the late 80’s. He was a bdx fanatic, and I was still a relative newbie. He loved my expense account, and I loved his tutoring on wines. PS - the bottle was classic and charming. Still sipping it.

TN of the year! Thanks for sharing your story. Now I must find some Georgian wine (that will be nowhere near as special as this sounds.)

I know imports from Georgia went up quite a bit a few years ago as it became a bit more popular, but I’ve still yet to find something domestically that wow’d me as much.

Hopefully someone with some more knowledge can chime in!

Two great stories, thank you guys.

Fantastic thread!

Beautifully written, and a great memory!

Andrew, thanks for sharing this beautiful experience! You and your wifes’ adventurous spirit is inspiring! The hospitality and kindness given to you was truly rare indeed, given the circumstance! Yes, memories are one of the gems of life, with unique wine influences being a part thereof.

All the best!

Those are some fun wine memories!

I have an odd wine story (well odd probably to wineberserkers) that I always tell to people whenever I drink 1996 Cristal. My brother and I went to the grand opening of the Aria hotel in Vegas the week of Christmas back in 2009. One of the nights we hit the club and went to XS. As a newly minted lawyer I didn’t have money for bottle service, but we got a friend to get us in for free on a busy Saturday night and stood around the bar.

I went for a walk around the club and at one of the main tables right next to the dance floor sat a husband and wife in their late 40s/early 50s. They looked fairly out of place as this was (is) one of the hottest clubs in Vegas. But the husband was nursing a bottle of Cristal. So I went up to him and asked what vintage it was. He told me it was the 1996. I told him I loved 1996 Cristal and he invited me to join them for a glass. Long story short, he invited my brother over and within 2 hours we were 4 1996 cristals, 2 1996 dom perignon magnums in and at one point I was standing on top of the table pouring one of those mags in the guy’s mouth.

This whole time, his wife didn’t drink a sip. But man did we party.