The National Wine
UnClub
Newsletter
Wine-ology
The study of wine can take many forms: fine wine appreciation as a social art, wine as an accompaniment to food, wine as an ancient cultural phenomenon, wine as a high-value collectible item, how-to winemaking studies (called oenology), or how-to market and sell wine as a consumable agricultural product. Sometimes all these approaches merge, perhaps best seen in the example set by a few high-level Master Sommeliers or Master of Wine initiates.
What is it that most people want to learn about wine? I am betting that most people who've found that they enjoy the taste of fermented vitis vinifera grape juice want to know simply how to find the right wine for the right time at the right price. It's as pragmatic as that, if my experience as a wine consultant over the last twenty years has taught me anything.
That being said, the task is not as simple as it seems. The varieties of wine are manifold, the vintage quality of wines changes from year to year, the infinite possibilities of wine and food combinations can mystify even the experts, and too often the experts mystify their audiences with esoteric babbling meant for their own edification.
The social status symbol wine has become for the wealthy also puts a damper on honest and enthusiastic wine research. Certain labels are elevated to an almost unattainable position of super-stardom which serves to make our favorite 'little wine' less special to us somehow. Many enthusiasts feel that they must seek out these rare bottlings to truly enjoy wine at its best.
Most wine lovers know that finding a great everyday wine is a much greater challenge than finding a high-priced, much-lauded label. If you spend $50+ on a bottle of vino you expect nothing short of pure magnificence in the wine. (Too often the wine doesn't live up to the price however!) But when spending less than $10 a bottle, expectations are normally lowered and many serendipitous bottlings from humble origins may be found.
As a wine consultant I personally derive more pleasure from helping a new wine enthusiast find a relatively special bottle of $10 wine than I do procuring that $150 bottle of Opus I for someone. I'm also especially proud of my ability to keep long-term customers satisfied with my new wine discoveries. I know they're coming to see me because I'm looking out for them in this regard.
Those individuals who make wine an avocational study will almost certainly look to the great names of winedom to know what the wine world is all about, but I submit that that aspect of the world of wine represents only about 1% of all wines made. True, the care and attention given by these august estates in 'high-rent' wine country is the stuff of which vinous legends are made. But let's not forget the everyday nature of wine in the process!
The mystery of wine is not that some bottles can fetch hundreds of dollars from avid fans. The same can be said for collectible coins, stamps, and china dolls. The true glory of wine is that, with care, a fascinatingly rich, luxurious beverage can be extracted from bunches of grapes only recently hanging from vines in vineyards in thousands of sites around the planet.
Why else then would wealthy business executives, doctors, and lawyers give up their positions and practises to own a winery and then don the dirty overalls, rubber boots, and leather gloves worn by winemakers of every social class around the world? Ask any one of these individuals the common question: "How does one make a small fortune in the wine business?" and they'll all tell you: "Start with a large fortune!"
Most of these erstwhile pioneers will also tell you that they don't regret their decision to impoverish themselves as gentleman farmers because they are now connected with the rhythms of the seasons that are more natural than their previous lives in the manic world of business/high society. They too relish the look on the face of a new wine enthusiast who enjoys the taste of their 'labor of love' product.
If you choose to enter the world of wine-ology, we who already reside here welcome you. We hope you will find the true meaning of our favorite subject without the unnecessary element of idolizing certain trendy labels. Know that this substance we call wine is a gift of God, meant to be used wisely to augment daily living. As a great poet once said:
Here with a loaf of bread beneath the bough, a flask of wine, a book of verse, and thou beside me singing in the wilderness - wilderness is Paradise now! - Edward Fitzgerald
Cheers!
Donald W. White