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There is ordinary time, which flies by unnoticed as you scarf checkout-lane candy bars and drink whatever was on sale. Then—there are moments. You indulge in a small luxury, a tiny bit of perfection that reaches ancient depths of your brain—places where the senses swirl together and memory and desire fold into one another. You taste the smoky flame of a single-malt Scotch from Islay, smell the bitter chocolate malt of a creamy dark stout, catch your breath at the luminous purity of a ghost orchid. The world slows down, and suddenly you understand how such a fragile, temporary pleasure can become a magnificent obsession. The true obsession begins, though, with knowledge and passion. The intimate knowledge of the expert, who can determine excellence with decimal-point precision, and the ceaseless craving of the connoisseur, who can distinguish every nuance. Here, they show you where to find 10 of life’s finest, most fleeting indulgences.

Photographs by Matthew O’Shea. Assistant James McKenzie. Makeup and hair styling by Suzy Bacino. Model Jeanna from Talent Plus/Centro. Diane von Furstenberg dress from Neiman Marcus. Orchid from the Missouri Botanical Garden

Red, White and Frou-Frou

By Matthew Halverson

Alvin Wolff has thousands of bottles of wine in his 600-square-foot wine cellar—he won’t say exactly how many because, well, they’re kinda valuable—but he doesn’t hesitate for a second when asked which one he’d pour for his last meal on earth: a 1962 La Tâche, from France’s Burgundy region. “Period. End of story. No argument,” he adds, in case his initial response wasn’t
resolute enough.

The Clayton lawyer isn’t one for a lot of effete swirling, sniffing and swishing (“I either like it or I don’t—I don’t get into glowing accolades, comparing the smell to ‘volcanic mist’ or something”), but get him talking about why he loves wine, and the subject alone is intoxicating enough to loosen his lips. He can tell you the three primary and two minor grapes used in wines from the Bordeaux region: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. And when he starts dropping adjectives such as “silky” and “smoky” and “spicy,” well, you know the once-restrained connoisseur is about to open up. “It has to have good, pleasant flavors when it touches the tip of your tongue,” he explains, “then, when the wine is in your mouth, you should get really deep, rich flavors—and then, when you swallow, it should have a finish where the taste lingers in your mouth 30, 45 seconds, a minute.”

When he received his first bottle of “real” wine as a wedding gift, he knew nothing about bouquets or tannins—wine was strictly a Passover formality for his family—making it all the more intriguing when he was told to let it age for five years before opening it. That was a long time to wait, so when the old 905 liquor stores went out of business, he bought what he could of their quality Bordeaux and Cabernets. Once he popped the first cork, the intoxication went beyond the buzz of fermentation—he got drunk on the nuances of the finer vintages.

He learned the subtleties of color (“Red wines don’t have to be dark to be good—many Pinots are very light but still elegant, delicate and delicious to drink”) and how to use his nose to detect quality (a trace of cork or wet cardboard hints at impurities caused by a dirty barrel). He learned that opening a bottle of white wine two hours before serving (maybe not quite so long for older, more delicate wines) would give it time to breathe and develop, and eventually he found himself so intoxicated by this new world that he ended up reading anything he could get his hands on ... including a book recounting an aphid invasion that nearly destroyed France’s vineyards in the late 1800s.

Most important, though, he learned to trust his own judgment. It’s easy for a budding oenophile to be swayed by the praise—or scorn—critics will heap on the latest vintages, but Wolff is inclined to consult his palate first. “I’ve had bottles that Robert Parker [publisher of The Wine Advocate and known as one of the world’s great authorities on wine] gave 75 points, and they were very, very good,” he says. “If he gives something less than 90 points, he’s doing you a favor—rather than spending $100 for it, you could probably get it for $20.”

Of course, that’s not to say Wolff won’t drop some serious coin on a case. “The pricing has gotten nuts lately,” he admits. “The 2005 Lafite Rothschild has just been released as a future for $600 or $700 a bottle, and even some of the lesser vintages you can pay anywhere from $150 to $800 a bottle, depending on the quality and scarcity of it.”

But once it’s matured, in a couple of decades—and that bottle he bought for $600 is going for somewhere around four times that much—it’s all worth it. “It’s something to look forward to,” he says. “In 25 years I may not be able to ski and I may not be able to play in squash tournaments, but I’ll be able to enjoy that fine bottle of wine with my wife.”

Five of His Favorites

Huia: “This would be for everyday drinking. It’s about $16 a bottle. I’m always looking for value on a wine that’s just delicious. It’s just great with anything light, like salads or chicken.”

Larkmead: “This is a great California Cab, and I don’t think a lot of people have heard of it. André Tchelistcheff, who was the guru of California winemaking in the 1960s, named Larkmead one of the four top wineries.”

La Tâche: “For Burgundy on your birthday, there’s nothing like La Tache. It’s what heaven must be like. It’s got the best nose, it has tremendous middle fruit, it finishes great.”

Château Palmer: “Bordeaux should be the backbone of any cellar, and this is one of the best. One of my favorite mature vintages is 1979. It’s a very seductive wine. It smells great, it’s soft, it’s luscious. You have an explosion of flavors on your tongue.”

Tokaij or Chateau d’Yquem: “Nothing beats these for dessert wines. The grapes they’re made with have a fungus on them (referred to as noble rot) that gives the wine a tremendous sweetness and makes it more attractive to all the senses.”