The National Wine
UnClub
Newsletter
The Phenomenon of Wine-Speak
What's going on? Why are people now so turned on to the joys of fine wine? The popularity of wine in today's world has never been greater; it sems the words (slightly revised) of a portly Orson Wells from a '70s TV wine commercial, "We will sell no wine unless it's fine" are still ringing in our ears. You even find that your beer-loving neighbor has now advanced to the ranks of a wine-lover. People are discussing their favorite labels in esoteric terms once only seen in the pages of The Wine Spectator. Perhaps it's time for a refresher course in the modern language of the vine.
To actually want to speak knowledgeably about the ineffable essences of smell and taste emanating from what one is drinking seems either to be the height of boring snobbery or the demanding daily detail work of a clinical product taster. Why can't we average homo sapiens just drink the stuff and keep our erudite (or errant) thoughts to ourselves? Perhaps the answer is that wine is so unique in its bouquet, taste, and bodily sensations that we feel obliged to think (and speak) about the experience so as to fully appreciate it.
Ah, here's one of the first words of wine-speak...appreciation. What does it really mean when we say we're going to a wine appreciation class or tasting event? Are we going to learn about wine, evaluate wine, or simply to (once again) just drink the stuff while we socialize? For different people the intent is usually some combination of the above. Appreciating wine is a multi-faceted activity it seems: one can have an educational experience with what you are drinking, that is if you stop drinking in time to remember what you're learning!
The strange thing is that, for some odd reason, people generally enjoy discussing the merits of the particular wine in front of them, especially if they paid more than $20 for the bottle in question. Now that can be a sign of incipient elitism, like the hilarious pomposity of the wine-speak banter shared often between Dr. Frasier Crane and his snivelling oenophile brother, Niles, on their hit TV sit-com. But it may also indicate genuine curiosity about the mysterious nectar we are imbibing.
Imagine the consternation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, as they squeezed overripe bunches of black grapes into a coconut shell and took their first sip of wine. Here was a sassy, ruby-colored liquid that smelled amazingly like other fruit types including blackberries, plums, and cherries, and made your head swim after a few deep gulps. No...we musn't drink this like water...it must be savored and sipped! Eventually storing this elixir for future use begat an entire ancient industry of amphorae ceramics.
Wine became the ultimate social lubricant in the Classical Era, from the philosophical war-like Greeks to the hedonistic war-like Romans, extending through the ages as a highly-prized commodity, essential to the successful rendering of nearly every civilized culture of the Old World. If you had anything valuable to trade with the peoples surrounding the Mediterranean basin then one of your imports was most certainly wine.
We in the United States are simply rediscovering what the civilizations of the Old World already knew: wine is a good thing! We are catching up to where these people were at the height of these ancient empires. We now want to revel in our discovery; we want to be able to discuss our good fortune of this new-found vinous knowledge with our friends, family, and community.
Great festivals are now held the world over which demonstrate the growing fascination we as a global culture have for the drink we call wine. In France we have VinExpo, in Italy we have VinItaly, in the States we have The California Wine Experience. Other wine-producing countries have similar events. What do people do at these events? Of course, they drink wine, but, primarily, they talk about wine. We might as well face the facts: Wine-speak is now firmly planted as a mainstream cultural language in modern society. I'll see you at the next wine appreciation event!
Cheers!
Donald W. White