During my peak pandemic aloneness, I started opening souvenir wine I’ve collected since I was 14 on family vacations. For the @washingtonpost, I pieced together travel memories (from old journals) with tasting notes to commemorate the drinking milestone. 1/

There was the Loxarel Ops I bought in Barcelona the summer of 2005 when I spent a LOT of time buying phone cards to call my boyfriend of three days back at home in Fresno. The cork shredded immediately upon opening this, and I ended up eating as much cork as I drank wine. 2/

I bought this Domaine Saparale in Corsica the summer of 2008 when I was a sign holder for a sandwich shop and a lifeguard at a neighborhood pool. On a Zoom call with my parents a few weeks ago, I opened the bottle and yelled, "That’s not bad wine!" /3

This date-less table wine came from our 2010 family vacation to Croatia. Opening it recently smelled like I was dunking my head into a just-retrieved long-lost barrel at sea. It tasted like dripping wet red Jolly Rancher, plus some lemon juice. /4

For more tasting notes and teenage angst, you can read my story on By The Way /TheEnd https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2020/05/26/this-pandemic-im-drinking-through-souvenir-wine-ive-collected-since-i-was-14/