An anniversary is a chance to recall past memories and make new ones. My husband and I recently celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary Feb. 2. According to Hallmark, the fourth year is when you’re supposed to give fruit/flowers (traditional) or appliances (modern).
Now, since our very first anniversary, we’ve been following these guidelines for each year and having a lot of fun in the process. This year, we purchased a new electric range for ourselves last month (our oven was beyond shot). As for our traditional gifts, I purchased a Catawba grapevine for him, along with a couple of books on how to make your own wine. I figured he might have fun with it, and if not, I can always use them to make jelly!
He purchased “fruit,” for me, as well, in the form of wine, of course! But, it wasn’t just any wine. He tracked down a couple of bottles of the wine we enjoyed on our honeymoon in Las Vegas, Nevada four years ago. We went to the Rio Las Vegas Casino, where I had heard there was a fabulous wine bar. It was amazing to see one of the most prestigious collections in the United States in that wine cellar. While there, we tried Merus Wines’ Altvs, a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that was one of the smoothest wines I’ve ever tasted. We purchased a bottle and enjoyed it for our six month anniversary a few months later.
Now, four years later, we enjoyed it again. This time, it was the 2012 vintage but we also have the 2010 vintage to try at a later date! The 2012 was a bit different in that there was not as high a percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon grape in it. I think that’s why it was not as smooth and velvety as I remembered it was. It was still great, don’t get me wrong! But, something wasn’t the same. We wondered if maybe we should have waited another year to drink it. Reviews said drink now but you never know whether a wine needs more time. We decanted it for over an hour before drinking it.
While we drank the wine we talked about how far we’d come in terms of enjoying and tasting wine. We’ve had hundreds of bottles and tried dozens of different grapes, regions and blends of wine. My husband wondered whether our tastes had evolved, too, which caused us to feel differently about our honeymoon wine.
We’ll continue to enjoy wine through the years as we make more memories together both with and without “fruit.” I’m looking forward to next year when we find a way to connect wine to wood or silverware, the fifth anniversary gifts!