First Date Wines

[Nicolas_G1]

Bedrock Old vine Zin. Duhh

[Kris_Patten]

For a fun topic, I’m curious to hear stories (The good, bad, and ugly) about wines you’ve bought or brought on a first date. I recently had what I thought was a promising first date and decided to bring a $300 bottle of 05 Alban Lorraine (100 points). My thought was, if this works out, what a great memory we can look back on in 5-10 years as our “first date” wine. Sadly, I knew within minutes of meeting her it was not a good match. I enjoyed the bottle nonetheless but now I’m rethinking my first date wine strategy. Haha. Let’s hear your stories…

My wife and I had a bottle of Antinori Guado al Tasso Vineyard Vermentino on our first date at Serafina in Seattle. We served it for our wedding too for a course.

[Ian_S]

The problem wasn’t so much the bringing of the wine itself, though that was occasionally a little sad, but the lecture that usually came with it.

“Mansplaining”.

[Jim_F]

First wine date with my wife, 15 years ago: Guilliams cabernet. There was a fun story behind it, and around it. The date was better- the start of the rest of my life!

[Albert_R]

First date with my now wife.

I suggested we order a bottle of the Baer Ursa off the list.
Figured it’s crowd pleasing. She’s like no I just want a glass. They had it btg as well.

Of course 5 glasses later. I’m like dude we coulda gotten the bottle and it’d way cheaper!
Her: well I didn’t know if you would be good company and didn’t want to commit to a bottle long date.

We laugh about it whenever it comes up.

My wife and I really like the Ursa therefore two thumbs up! I could easily see draining a bottle or more.

[Rich_K0rz_nk0]

First Date with eventual wifee, Turning Leaf at a Fridays and my how our tastes have evolved since I started collecting.

Favorite… younger years when I was beer-swilling rugger, out on a first and she ordered me a Merlot. She was wine savvy, and wine was a nice ingredient in Sangria to me at the time. Can’t recall name, yet it struck a note and was a contributor to what has evolved in to a constant in life.

[Kirk.Grant]

For a fun topic, I’m curious to hear stories (The good, bad, and ugly) about wines you’ve bought or brought on a first date. I recently had what I thought was a promising first date and decided to bring a $300 bottle of 05 Alban Lorraine (100 points). My thought was, if this works out, what a great memory we can look back on in 5-10 years as our “first date” wine. Sadly, I knew within minutes of meeting her it was not a good match. I enjoyed the bottle nonetheless but now I’m rethinking my first date wine strategy. Haha. Let’s hear your stories…

My wife & I actually met at a wine tasting at the local wine shop. Our first date was a hike & no wine. Second date was lunch (Lobster Rolls & Liquid Farm Chardonnay). Five years later we’re happily married. The challenge that I see with bringing a $300 bottle to a first date is that’s not “common”, in the sense that I’m assuming that was a special wine for you and you don’t drink it most times you open wine. You may be setting yourself & your date up for disappointment by setting the bar so high on the first date (Unless you already know she’s a wine-geek & want to share an uncommon bottle with her only for that reason).

I can’t imagine dating during a pandemic, that sounds like a special kind of pain. Back to your original question, if I was dating someone, I would try to find out what kind of wine they liked, then pick something that I could reasonably produce for most dates moving forward.

“I like Chardonnay”: Hanzell, Liquid Farm, or a nice Bourgogne Blanc.
ABC: Loire or German whites
I like sweet wines: Vietti Moscatto d’Asti

“I like reds”: Ridge, PGC, or something affordable from France like Beaujolais.

[Nick_Ellis]

On my 5th date with my now wife back in 2014, I invited her to my place for dinner and served braised short ribs with a 2009 Turley Hayne Zin. She was polite but clearly not impressed by the wine.

She mentioned that for her birthday earlier in the week, her parents cooked her dinner and her mom opened a bottle of “1961 Leoville something or other. I think it had a lion on a stone arch.”

I’m still trying to measure up to the in-laws.

[Greg_K]

I’ve done it a few times, if a girl said she was interested in wine, but never with any kind of lecture and certainly never with any kind of thought as to what the score of the wine is. Usually it’s something that’s going to be interesting enough not to annoy a somm but not interesting to detract from the conversation during the date.

I think the last wine I brought to a first date was a 14 Chezeaux Suchots. It was a good wine, it was a mediocre date. I have no idea if it has a score.

[john_stimson]

My first date was when I was 16, so wine was not an option. I found my ideal match when I was 24, and it hasn’t really mattered what wine we have.

[Scott_Jameson]

My first date with my wife was at a (now long closed) casual French restaurant in San Francisco. I don’t remember the wine exactly, but it was red and probably a Cabernet Sauvignon. I do remember my wife was wearing a white dress, because I spilled a glass of the red wine all over her and her dress.

[JDavisRoby]

My last first date was twenty years ago next month and I was seven months from legally consuming alcohol. Coffee date it was! Couldn’t risk getting thrown in the slammer for my fake identification.

[Robert_Dentice]

I have oh so many stories from my dating days when a man (always a man, women never pulled this), knowing that I was “into” wine, would bring something or order something he was sure would impress me, or even start spouting off a completely mistaken wine lecture. It rarely worked out.

And on the rare occasions when it did, what was the wine?

Jonathan brought about 10 bottles of superb Riesling to the hole in the wall Chiu Chow restaurant in Hong Kong for what could be considered our first date. As I recall, he invaded the kitchen, speaking not a lick of any Chinese dialect, and came out proudly bearing a large mop bucket full of ice in which to house the menagerie.

Keeper!

[PaulMills]

First dinner date with my now wife was at a pizza place with 100 beers on tap and cheap wine. We had beer.

[Robert.A.Jr]

For a fun topic, I’m curious to hear stories (The good, bad, and ugly) about wines you’ve bought or brought on a first date. I recently had what I thought was a promising first date and decided to bring a $300 bottle of 05 Alban Lorraine (100 points). My thought was, if this works out, what a great memory we can look back on in 5-10 years as our “first date” wine. Sadly, I knew within minutes of meeting her it was not a good match. I enjoyed the bottle nonetheless but now I’m rethinking my first date wine strategy. Haha. Let’s hear your stories…

Great topic!

I was just starting my career, had a little jingle in my pocket, and was slowly buying some Napa Cabs that the rags were rating highly. One of them was a Stag’s Leap that one of the critics had rated a 100, so I thought I had hit the big time. Cannot recall which Stag’s Leap vineyard it was. This was in 1993.

So I also met my hot neighbor, next building over. We “accidentally” bumped into each other at the mailboxes. Get all flirty on each other, decide to get together than night to watch Melrose Place. It was all that back then. And I didn’t waste time.

Brought over that Stag’s Leap. Was thinking I was all cool and shit, so sophisticated. She’s gonna be so impressed. Well, she didn’t drink red wine. Had like 2 crappy white wine glasses. And had no food. We made microwave popcorn, drank the wine, which I loved, but cannot recall if she drank much.

Fast forward, we are still married. She still doesn’t drink red wine. And still appears to remain unimpressed with me or my wine geeky-ness.

[Robert.A.Jr]

I’ve done it a few times, if a girl said she was interested in wine, but never with any kind of lecture and certainly never with any kind of thought as to what the score of the wine is. Usually it’s something that’s going to be interesting enough not to annoy a somm but not interesting to detract from the conversation during the date.

I think the last wine I brought to a first date was a 14 Chezeaux Suchots. It was a good wine, it was a mediocre date. I have no idea if it has a score.

No score? None at all.

Lame.

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

Okay, one more fun one:

Internet date, so the guy knows I’m into wine, but we’ve never met in person before.

Server comes to take a drinks order.
Him: I’ll try the South African sauvignon blanc.
Me: A glass of Chablis.

(Server comes back with a glass of Chablis for me, and a glass containing an ounce or so of the other wine which she puts in front of him. Clearly, she took “try” to mean he wanted to sample it.)

Me: (Trying to be funny and flirt) Kind of a light pour there. Maybe she didn’t like you as much as she liked me.
Him: (With a totally straight face) No, actually this is how South African wines are served.

Trying to keep my jaw from dropping, I pushed a little to see if he was joking, but ascertained he was not. Guys, if you’re gonna make sh-t up, don’t make up sh-t on what I’ve declared to be my favorite hobby.

[Alex_Valdes]

Okay, one more fun one:

Him: (With a totally straight face) No, actually this is how South African wines are served.

When I can go to dinner with friends I am absolutely going to do and say this

[Dan_Hammer]

I have oh so many stories from my dating days when a man (always a man, women never pulled this), knowing that I was “into” wine, would bring something or order something he was sure would impress me, or even start spouting off a completely mistaken wine lecture. It rarely worked out.

Yep!

The problem wasn’t so much the bringing of the wine itself, though that was occasionally a little sad, but the lecture that usually came with it.

Then there was the time I was on a first date and we were talking about fast forwarding through TV commercials. He said he always did. I said I didn’t always, because it was the perfect time to get up and pour another glass of wine. He looked at me as if I’d grown two heads and said: You drink alone?!? I replied that yes, I always want wine, but I don’t always want company. He decided I was an alcoholic and left before dinner was even over.

Bolding above is mine. Not so much a lecture, but a conversation. If the other person isn’t interested, you lose them within the first 30 seconds. Nobody cares. The same advice goes to people that ask me how we always fly upfront to worldwide destinations. When I start to tell them how I do this, by signing up for credit cards (or gasp, flying) their eyes start looking away. They don’t care. That’s when I’ll change the conversation…

Disclaimer - I haven’t had a first date since 1973.

[Greg_K]

I’ve done it a few times, if a girl said she was interested in wine, but never with any kind of lecture and certainly never with any kind of thought as to what the score of the wine is. Usually it’s something that’s going to be interesting enough not to annoy a somm but not interesting to detract from the conversation during the date.

I think the last wine I brought to a first date was a 14 Chezeaux Suchots. It was a good wine, it was a mediocre date. I have no idea if it has a score.

No score? None at all.

Lame.

I see what you did there.