Why do I love wine so much? There are a lot of reasons.
– It tastes great! And with the right food it’s incredible. Finding the right food and wine pairing can be sensory nirvana. Okay, so that’s a bit over the top. But it’s a great moment.
– Every wine is different. Opening a bottle is opening a mystery. That doesn’t mean the mystery always has a happy ending, but it sure is fun.
– Wine comes from some of the most beautiful places in the world, and it’s fun to visit those places. Napa Valley, Italy, France, Australia, South Africa, the list goes on.
– Opening a bottle with friends creates instant conversation. Everybody has an opinion, nobody is wrong, and the whole point is to enjoy life. Hard to resist that combination.
– The process of creating the wine is a beautiful combination of hard farm work and creative artistry. I love seeing that blend in something that’s so enjoyable on the dinner table.
But all of those reasons flow from one idea: wine is a discovery. The taste, the smell, the story, the place, the reaction of my friends, the laughter, the sound of that cork popping…it’s all a discovery process that engages the mind, heart and, yes, soul.
You know how people first discovered that Jesus was God? When he turned water into wine. The first sip of that wine (I look forward to a taste myself someday) was a discovery for the master of the banquet, for the bridegroom, and for all the guests.
And that’s how I view wine. The whole experience is one of discovery. There are foods I love — ice cream, cold watermelon on a hot day, a great steak, pasta jambalaya, vegetables from D’Aun’s garden, grilled marlin, bruschetta with pecorino cheese, and many others. But nothing has the mystery of wine. Each bottle is a new discovery, a new adventure, a new story to tell.
What’s not to love about that?