The Surprise

One of the biggest surprises I've ever had was to witness with my own eyes (well, with my nose and mouth) a toad turning into Prince Charming. We were blindly tasting a few Bourgogne reds while I smelled an intense, foul odor in one of the glasses: it reminded me of a stable, actually a dirty stable! It was so bad that I immediately thought that the wine was flawed. But, wait! The bottles were opened already and Sandro had, for sure, already checked them in advance. Was this some kind of test? Nonetheless, we were told to persist and oxygenate the wine for a while. Then, the miracle: after ten minutes of vigorous oxygenation, the breathtaking, deep and elegant scent that only the Pinot Noir is capable of emerged in all its magnificence. I was astonished, in just a few minutes a liquid that I wouldn't dare to drink for a large lump of cash was transfigured into a precious elixir I couldn't stop smelling and drinking. It turned out to be Méo-Camuzet Clos de Vougeot 1989. That day I discovered a great wine and, moreover, I learned that you can't judge a wine at first smell!