Netscape Forum Poll: I first got serious about wine ...

But in some ways wine is frustrating.

Yes, like all things in life, no..

but I think it wasn't until I was 20 that I started to systematically pay attention to what I drink.

Hey, good for you to start so young..

Long live your cellar!

Somewhat of a progression for me as well, as Mark said, as I started "casually" enjoying wine around age 20 when I first began to get interested in cooking.

But it wasn't until I was 25 when I entered graduate school that I was no longer going out to bars clubs etc. and had more time to stay at home and focus on the pleasures of analytical drinking that my current obsession really took off.

About a year after that I randomly discovered the wine boards while googling for info on the wine I was drinking.

but I think it wasn't until I was 20 that I started to systematically pay attention to what I drink.

Hey, good for you to start so young..

Long live your cellar!

Not likely to. I think that my currently c.90 bottle stash will be drunk within the next year or two (no money to continue this hobby). I think this might be a problem with many who start too young...

-O-

(no money to continue this hobby). I think this might be a problem with many who start too young...

Yes. Seems like bitter irony that when you are the right age for stockpiling wines that need decades to mature you are the least likely to have a sufficient income to do so.

I guess that's why people talk about youth being wasted on the young.

missed the opportunity when savage recession and rampant inflation meant that a lot of fine Bordeaux from 61, 62, 66 and 70 was being unloaded on the market at ridiculously low prices.

Yes, sad to say this strategy of buying strong while the rest of the world is in tatters applies to more than just wine.

Would that we could all be so lucky to have enough money to do so while the general economy tanks. Unfortunately most of us go down with it.

Not that that makes the current bubble easier for anyone's slowly rising boat.

How old were you when you first got seriously into wine as hobby, interest and passion? Barely legal ... or less? Or did you come to wine later in life? Pick your personal drinking age in this week's poll; then join the discussion and tell us more about your story!

Well ..... it seems that some people from my era that grew up in Auckland New Zealand and tasted those rather coarse West Auckland wines made by the Croation immigrants from mostly hybrid grapes varieties liked them enough to get interested in wine. But I thought they were ghastly. It wasn't until I tasted a Marlborough Sauv Blanc in 1988 and was seduced by the vibrancy and fruitiness and flavour of the wine that I became hooked. That would have been when I was 18 years younger than I am now. I wasn't barely legal (drinking age was 20 in those days).I was a few years or so past that, with a husband in tow.

Cheers,
Sue