1988 Raymond-Lafon Sauternes

August is International Sex Month. Don’t act like you didn’t know. If you’ve lived here for more than a year, you know. Santa Fe’s combination of thick light, mercurial weather, red chili, and sixty-eight hundred feet of elevation make this town a mating zone during August. The same way Catholics flock to Lourdes for Easter and geese fly south for the winter, sex fiends from all over the planet come here during August. Having insane sex in an ancient city where thousands of other couples are simultaneously rolling and tumbling with reckless abandon is the ultimate fiesta.

In polite society, sex is one of three taboo subjects at the dinner table, the other two being money and politics. I don’t know about you but the friends and enemies who come to my house for dinner can’t stop talking about who’s running for president or how much it’s going to cost us to survive the next four years. Which is fine with me. I like a good argument about the ruling class as much as the next guy, not to mention a spirited debate about the true cost of survival. And this will betray my status as a member of impolite society, but it’s a question I have to ask: Why leave out sex? You don’t exclude it from your life. Why exclude it from your conversations? After all, sex is communication. Even couples who don’t speak to each other still have sex. If you’re ashamed to discuss sex at the dinner table, what does that say about your sex life? Who would you rather take to bed, the one who pretends to know what you want or the one who’s willing to listen?

Before we get into the wines of aphrodisia, I want to make sure there are no misunderstandings. Wines of aphrodisia are wines of arousal and stamina but they are not wines of seduction. If you and the person you want to sleep with have yet to cross the Rubicon, a wine of aphrodisia will only complicate your efforts to find intimacy. Wines of seduction exist. The 1992 Ramonet Batard-Montrachet is the classic choice for the middle-aged man in the process (or throes, you might say) of wooing the younger woman. For the older widowed woman across the table from the older divorced man, either the 2009 Montille Pommard “Le Rugiens-Bas” or the 2007 Les Pallieres Gigondas “Les Racines” will break the ice, melt it, and keep it melted. But enough about seduction. Without further adieu, let’s move on to four of the wines of aphrodisia.

#1. The 1975 Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes, a.k.a., Roman Candle Time. If your idea of a roll in the hay includes checking out your eyelids for pinholes ten minutes after the fireworks, this is the wrong wine for you. By the same token, if you live for Rounds Two and Three, the 1975 Yquem was bottled and aged with you and your insatiable partner in mind. One overlooked aspect of this legendary Sauternes is it’s portability. Don’t be afraid to adjourn from the dinner table and bring the 1975 Yquem with you to the bedroom, floor, patio, roof, or barn, as the case may be. Sex is always entertaining. Sex in the vicinity of an unfinished bottle of 1975 Yquem is spellbinding. Yes, it’s an expensive Sauternes. Now you know why the Italians say, “Bed is the poor man’s opera.”

#2. The 2004 Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella “Classico.” The connection between red wine and the female libido is a matter of public record. What the sexologists don’t tell you is how well the male libido responds to the female libido’s response to red wine.

#3. The 2005 Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges “Les Perrières.” Leave your body. Float up to the ceiling. Enjoy the view. Men love women. Women love red Burgundy. The longer the finish, the deeper the attraction.

Which brings us to #4, the 1988 Raymond-Lafon Sauternes.

In the glass, the 1988 Raymond-Lafon Sauternes combines radiance with reflection. Plenty of people like to taste wine and a few of us still like to drink it, but this is a wine built as much for the eye as it is for the palate. The bouquet is forty-five percent aroma and fifty-five percent laughing gas. On the palate, the 1988 Raymond-Lafon measures you before it lands a punch. After the first cut, it moves in for the kill. The good news is, it cures you as it puts you away. The finish, thank goodness, is a long goodbye.

These days, it’s impossible to read a wine review without reading about pairings. Prosecco with prosciutto. Barolo with bacon. Aglianico with Artic Char. I think pairing specific wines with specific foods is sophistry. Why not do it in style and pair the sublime with the sublime? If you open a great bottle and drink it with a delicious meal, do you really think you’ll be disappointed? And, if you enjoy that delicious meal in the company of the one you love, chances are, nature will favor your enterprise. You might say love is the essential ingredient in the recipe for insane sex.

Love, naturally, is anything but easy. That’s why rational people avoid it. Why does love hurt so much? Because it feels so good. Why does it feel so good? Because it hurts so much.

One Bottle is dedicated to the appreciation of good wines and good times, one bottle at a time. You can write to Joshua Baer at jb@onebottle.com.