When Barolo met Sex and the City.

It was probably inevitable that our family would be drawn into the hype about the “And Just Like That…” revival finale last week.

Some of the themes are arguably too mature for our girls, 12 and 13. But how could we refuse to let them watch it when they knew their mother had been following the once one-off mini-series and was excited for the last episode?

I missed all the shows except the last when our family gathered for dinner to watch.

As Tracie filled me in on all that had happened in my three-year absence, I couldn’t help but fixate on an episode of the original series, which aired when I was living and working in New York.

My first real job in the city was as an editor and writer in print media. My office was in the “toy building,” literally across the street from Madison Square Park where my co-workers and I would see them filming.

During those years, I was tasked with interviewing one of the earliest celebrity mixologists, Dale DeGroff, who was erroneously credited with inventing the Cosmopolitan — a cocktail recipe, he claimed, he poached from an Absolut vodka campaign. For anyone living (and dating) in the city at that time, Cosmopolitans, as seen in “Sex and the City,” were the cocktail of choice.

I had so many indirect connections to the show, including the fact that a boss at another job had a brother who worked on the show and the cast would party at the restaurant where I often worked the floor.

But the thing I remember more than anything else about the show was the 2004 episode (season six) where Mikhail Baryshnikov served Carrie a Barolo and would subsequently prepare a risotto while complaining that she didn’t have a proper “risotto” pan (whatever that is!).

Back then Barolo was hardly a household word. Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Napa (and maybe Brunello) were the go-to wines for entitled New Yorkers. It was the first time I heard the then esoteric (to most Americans) appellation mentioned on TV.

To me it was an unforgettable zeitgeist moment that made me think to myself, maybe Italian wine is going to become big in the U.S.

Some 20 years later, it’s incredible to think back on how Americans’ perceptions of Italian wine changed during those years. Thank you, Carrie!