Wine enthusiasts are always looking for an experience that's completely arresting -- a wine that stops you in your tracks, makes the room go silent, and just pulls you into the glass.
Sometimes, those wines are expensive -- perhaps opened at an extravagant wine dinner where everyone brings a bottle to impress. Other times, they're ordered at a restaurant when one hands the list back to the sommelier, requests an adventure, and is blown away by the results.
I'm electrified when these experiences happen with wines made by friends. I'm hardly alone in this sentiment.
A few weeks ago, Steve Matthiasson, a top vineyard consultant in Napa Valley and one of Food & Wine Magazine's 2012 Winemakers of the Year, was asked about the wines that most excite him.
David White, a wine writer, is the founder and editor of Terroirist.com. His columns are housed at Wines.com, the fastest growing wine portal on the Internet.