Talk-A-Vino

Wine and holidays… When someone drinks wine every day, is special meaning lost when the holiday comes? It does not. It only gets more interesting, and the reason is simple – it is called Expectations. On an average day, you look in the cellar, and something grabs your attention, so the decision is made on the spot – this Pinot sounds perfect tonight. When it some to the holidays, long ahead, you start planning – and anticipating. You think about how it will feel like when you will open “that bottle”. So in your mind, you open that bottle many times before the actual “bottle opening event” will take place, so your expectations are building. There lies danger – the higher your expectations are, the smaller the gap to disappointment. But if you hit it right – boy, what a great feeling!

Valentine’s Day (unfortunately, hugely commercialized by “pink-hearting” everything possible and impossible) is meant to celebrate love. Wine is an attribute of any celebration, and of course, the celebration of love is a great reason to raise a glass (wedding and champagne are almost synonyms, right?). Is there a right and wrong wine for Valentine’s Day? Of course, there is no such thing as wrong wine – whatever makes you tick is the right wine, even if it is just water. Whatever helps you feel the special moment is the right thing.

So what are my wine preferences for Valentine’s Day? First, it is Amarone – if I happened to have a good bottle, and then it is Champagne. For this Valentine’s Day, it happened to be Champagne (yes, you are correct – I didn’t have a good bottle of Amarone in the cellar). Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial, to be more precise. I had the bottle for a while ( probably 4-5 years), and based on the recent experience with Mumm, I was really looking forward to opening that bottle.

Well, remember what I said about building expectations? Yep, there lies danger. This bottle was actually less than I expected. It was drinkable, but it was not exciting. It was refreshing, it had a bit of complexity – but it was stopping short, without delivering the “umph” which that bottle of Mumm had. Well, maybe next time…I will have a good bottle of Amarone?

Now, please tell me – what wine did you experience on this special day?