Behind the Vines

Lifestyles Channel Loves the 80’s

by Farley on March 19th, 2008

With the Lifestyles Channel here on b5 celebrating all things 80’s, I call to mind my early years with charm necklaces, cut-out gloves in the style of Madonna, and mismatched socks and jelly shoes.  People out there are probably talking about fashion trends that should have stayed gone (i.e. fluorescent yellow, green, and pink) and hairstyles that never should have been (hairspray never saw such high sales).  But my blog topic makes this theme a little hard. I wasn’t even a teenager in the 80’s, much less the wine-drinking age.  I didn’t start drinking wine until the mid-90’s and didn’t fall in love with it until a couple years later.  So my experience with vintages from that decade is not much to speak of. 

In fact, to my knowledge, I’ve only had two.  Both were given to me by Micheal Martella when he was cleaning out his wine stock, and both were Thomas Fogarty wines.  The first I tried was the 89 Fogarty Gewurztraminer which I opened (after a few bottles) when some artist friends were visiting.  We had a borrowed Le Nez du Vin kit and had been sniffing the vials, training our noses to pick out aromas in those bottles of wine. With the Gewurz, a wine that is typically drunk young, this one had turned a deep golden hue with the nearly 20 years of age behind it. I didn’t take notes that night, but I do remember tasting honey and not much more. Interesting…though not something I wanted a whole glass of. The second 80’s wine I had was for last year’s Open That Bottle Night, and it was even older: 1984 Thomas Fogarty Cabernet Sauvignon. We were surprised that it was delicately hanging on. The flavors were faded but still there: light red fruit and vaguely floral.

I never pay much attention to vintages that I don’t have access to, so I can’t recall if there are any great years from the 80’s. Like most things from that decade (other than the music), maybe they were best forgotten.

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