A few years back, while channel surfing, I settled on a television rarity – a program about wine that was informative without being insufferably boring or contrived.
From Wine Glass to Glass
What stuck was an interview with an older French gentleman who was the latest master of a great Bordeaux chateau, possibly the first growth. He modestly stated that he’d been drinking a bottle a day of the estate’s wine for over half a century…and was discovering what the grapes were expressing.
That self-effacing revelation underscored what is, perhaps, the only mathematical certainty regarding wine – that there is no learning “curve” per se. Rather, the path to understanding wine is a line in its purest form, progressing from the glass into infinity.
What is Your Favorite Wine?
People sometimes ask me the best wine I’ve ever had. My stock answer, without attempting to be disingenuous, is that I’ve yet to drink it.
The point is that the love of wine is truly a lifetime learning experience, a passion that should never wane, a book of knowledge with no last page. And as with life, it’s a compendium of bottled moments from disappointing to satisfactory to exhilarating that make it all worthwhile.
Never Have a Favorite Wine
One of the biggest failures of wine education is the idea that people should just “drink what you like.” That is terrible advice, because it keeps people from exploring. The greatest pleasure is to push against the comforts and keep the spark of discovery alive.
Having a favorite wine means you still drinking the same wine. And that means you are missing out on all the things out there that you will love even more. Explore your local wine shop, take a few wine tasting classes, and maybe even earn your sommelier certification.