One of my favorite wine stories.

When at a party, and the typical "So what do you do?" question is raised, I usually have a couple of different answers. Sometimes I'll say I drink a lot of wine, sometimes I'll say I'm a sommelier, wine consultant, or that I'm putting together a wine bar. Most of them are true... The most frequently asked question I get, is, "Are expensive wines really worth all that money?". My answer is usually, well that depends....
There are many factors, for me, that go into choosing a wine, such as, "What are we in the mood for?", and, "what are we having it with?", and, of course, most importantly, "who's paying?".
I used to sell extremely expensive wines to very wealthy people all over the world. These people would sometimes drop $10k- $20k on a single transaction with me, and then, turn around and do it again the next day. Of course, when you're a billionaire, $10k is like ten bucks to normal people like me. So, to these people, price, truely, is not an issue. To me, however, price is an issue. Along those lines, I would almost never spend even $100 on a bottle of wine, if all I'm planning on doing is drinking it. But that being said, I jump at the chances to try rare wines, and have absolutely loved some of the amazing bottles I have the unique opportunities to try.
One of these opportunities happened to me a few years ago when I was moonlighting as a sommelier at a restaurant in East Hampton. A couple came into the restaurant with a canvas bag, sat at a small table and casually perused the menu. I came over with the wine list, asked them if they were planning on having wine with dinner, and could I be any help in selecting a bottle. The gentleman responded no thanks, that they'd brought a bottle and would I mind opening it. Of course, I told them, I'd have no problem opening it, and looking down realized they'd brought a 1985 Domaine Romanee-Conti La Tache. I think my exact words were, "Holy Shit." This wine would probably be about $5,000 on any wine list amazing enough to offer it.To put it in perspective, our most expensive bottle on the list at the time was a Mouton Rothschild at about $500.
So I opened the bottle, carefully decanted it, and returning it to the table, poured them two glasses. The gentleman asked me if I'd ever had a La Tache, and would I care to try some. Would I? You bet your ass I would! But what I think I stammered out was, "yes please". When I returned with a glass, he poured me, not just a taste, but a full glass. Unbelievably generous and wonderful of this guy, and here comes my favorite part of the story; after the gentleman and I banter about the wine for a while, his wife shakes her head, says, "I don't get it.", pours the rest of her wine into her husband's glass, and asks if we have any chardonnay by the glass...

What's interesting is the response I get from most people when I tell this story. Almost every time, people will say, boy, I can't believe that woman, or, how uninformed was that lady...
But me, I have the absolute opposite reaction,
I think that lady performed, in one swift movement, the coolest, classiest, wine maneuver I've ever seen: she knows damn well how much that wine costs, she knows it's over a thousand dollars a glass, but she doesn't care, she wants a glass of house chardonnay, and at $7 a glass it brings her more pleasure that the '85 La Tache at over a thousand. I'd love to meet that woman again and tell her how cool I think she is, because the most important wine in the world, is the one that's in your glass, period.