The History of Wine

well, of a bottle of wine to be exact. Specifically, a bottle of Muga Rioja 1994 Reserve that I purchased in Spain in 2000 before I knew a thing about wine. That was also before John and I officially started dating. Prior to my trip, we had hung out a few times, but I guess we both knew there was something more. Hence the reason I bought the bottle for him in the first place. I was with Stephanie for a two week rendeveous to reminisce about the 6 months we had spent there the year before. I bought the bottle at a vinoteca in Salamanca where she had studied.

I smuggled the wine home in my suitcase hidden around my newly purchased clothes from Mango and Zara not knowing whether I would actually give it to John, whether we would even hang out again. In college, 2 1/2 weeks of not talking is a long time. Well, obviously we did get together, and I did give him the bottle of wine, the exact time and place I can't recall.

The bottle of wine then was moved to New York, where we waited for the perfect opportunity to open it. I guess the "perfect" moment was not to be because 2 1/2 years later, it got moved back to Austin and sat on our wine rack in our apartment. Then, for four years, it christened our Dining Room in our first home, along with several bottles we picked up on our trip to Napa.

So, now we are on 8 years of waiting for the perfect moment when many perfect moments surely had passed us. Who knew if it would be any good? Nevertheless, we couldn't part with it when we decided to move to Bratislava. So, from Spain to Austin to NYC to Austin to Bratislava. Hmmm, that's a lot of moving around for one bottle of wine.

Well, the perfect moment finally came on the eve of my 31st birthday - am I really in my 30's? It wasn't the pomp and circumstance I had imagined, but it was perfect. Chloe had gone to bed, and we were having pizza at home as no babysitter was available that night. The wine was delicious, and we had a great time! It was full of the flavor of the history it carried. Our history.