There is this story – a legend,

Bernkastel is a town in the Rhine River valley known for its excellent white wines.

A couple of hundred years ago, a local man was dying. A neighbor came to visit him one day:

“Before I die, would you please bring me a bottle of that excellent white wine you make?
“Of course I will,” his friend said.

Later that day he returned and shared a bottle of white wine with his friend. Miraculously, his friend recovered his health, and credited the wine for his recovery. Ever since, that white wine has been known as the Bernkastler Doktor, the Doctor of Bernkastel, one of the finest white wines in the world.

Fast forward in the Way-back Machine to the summer of the year 1974.

It was called the Omega Front, a huge high-pressure system stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains and from halfway up Norway into the Mediterranean Sea. Wells that hadn’t gone dry in 500 years went dry that summer! It was also the best year for wine in a very long time.

Fast forward again, to 1987.

I was living in Arlington, just across the Potomac River from Georgetown. One afternoon I walked across the bridge into Georgetown and into a liquor store. While I was browsing through the wine rack, I found ten bottles of the 1974 Bernkastler Doktor! They were asking ten dollars a bottle! Naturally, I bought all ten bottles! I wasn’t about to leave any for anyone else!

It took me a whole year to drink it all. Ah, the best year of my life!

If you have a subject you’d like me to address, send us an email. Better yet, come down and see us. We’re only eight minutes from King’s Dominion, in Doswell, VA.

Sincerely,

Ralph

Your Friendly Neighborhood Wine Merchant