Your wine shows who you are
As a product, wine has a special ability to carry a greater sense of self-understanding and to tell a story about your personality.
I have the perception that the wines we drink reveal who we are. Because what makes people choose one wine over another?
Of course it’s about taste, but what if there’s a deeper reason behind it, and the character of the wine matches our personality?
It may happen without us thinking about it, and as such it’s not something we necessarily need to be conscious of. But the more I move into the world of wine, the more I see the pattern.
Not least in my own case. The wines I like the most all fall within the same spectrum and fit almost perfectly with my personality, which is the seeker.
That is why I am drawn to wines that challenge existing conventions in an innovative way while remaining in balance with nature, yet at the same time respect tradition.
A metaphysical product
To me, wine is a bridge to the metaphysical, because it is a product that neither nature nor humans can create alone. Only a close collaboration with respect for nature can lead to good wine and turn the experience of it into something greater than the wine itself.
I know it may sound both spiritual and idealistic, but that’s simply how I’m wired. I believe that when we humans excel at something, the effect becomes greater than ourselves. The spirit behind our effort simply rubs off on the world around us.
This applies to wine too — perhaps especially to wine, because it is so difficult to make good wine. The development time is long, and there are thousands of things that can go wrong along the way, things we have no control over.
For the same reason, good wine is often the result of several generations of knowledge and effort, always starting with a deep respect for the soil in which the vines take root. This is where the bridge between nature and human begins — and thus the magic of wine as a product.
Tradition, renewal and balance
The tradition behind this magic has enormous value, but conversely, renewal must also take place if we are to remain true to what it means to be human. This is where innovation comes into the picture.
That is why I am very fond of wines made from traditional grape varieties, which — through a combination of skilled hands and modern technology — can give me a taste experience of the terroir in which they grew. Preferably with minimal human intervention, but not at the expense of quality.
In other words, it doesn’t have to be natural wine at all costs for me. I actually prefer a stable wine with a clear flavor profile. To me, that says something about the human part of the process and our mastery of nature’s processes.
In my view, this is precisely where we find the crucial balance when making wine. The very methodology for producing good wine is a choice about how we handle nature’s processes and whims.
Do we do it on nature’s terms or on humanity’s? Do we use manual labour or machines, and if the answer is machines, what advantages does that give us in relation to our balance with nature?
Can we develop new technologies that allow gentler handling of the grapes than humans could achieve with handwork alone? And can we thereby make the bridge to nature stronger?
Questions like these are important to me, because I am a seeker.
Deeper self-understanding?
By comparison, I sometimes meet wine lovers who are completely indifferent to renewal and only want the traditional wines they already know.
For them, the value lies in the consistency of quality of the familiar wines, and they are not interested in whether the wines are made close to nature or not, as long as the quality is there.
Others again care neither about the quality of the wines nor the way they are made, as long as they are cheap and have a high alcohol percentage. Their purpose with wine is effect rather than taste.
Then there is the opposite end of the spectrum, where the wine must come from the most expensive houses in the world because it creates social validation when served to guests. Whether the taste lives up to the high price is secondary. It’s mostly about the label.
None of these approaches to wine is more “correct” than the others. It’s simply that we are different types of people who use wine in different ways.
And herein lies my point. By looking at the way we choose wine, we can see ourselves and potentially become more aware of who we actually are.
It works for me. Does it work for you too?
