Food and drinks are the basic necessity for maintaining human lives.
However, in this era of digitalization where most people are indulging in the virtual world, for me, wine is one of a few rare 'real' things which is still made in more or less the same way as it was done 8,000 years ago, one crop per year - harvesting, crushing, fermenting, maturing... Wine and food together also provides me with multi-layers of enjoyment via senses of sight, smell and taste.
By studying wine, I have reckoned how wine style and quality can vary due to differences in regional climate, geography, soil, culture and history, in addition to the various grape varieties and options available to vine growing and winemaking. To have a good grasp of all these, one needs some command of a spectrum of knowledge ranging from history, geography, through arts and science to commerce.
Just as Karen MacNeil mentioned in her book Wine Bible, “Anyone can drink good wines, and anyone wealthy enough can drink super-expensive wines. But without knowledge, the soulful, satisfying part of the experience is lost.”
Now, each time I open a bottle of wine, not only do I enjoy its colour, aromas and flavours, it seems the wine was talking to me about its place of birth, how it was raised and its nurturers.
What's more? When you share with some people a bottle of good wine and some wine knowledge, we gain love and friendship!
See my Chinese article on Headline Finance today: http://hd.stheadline.com/news/columns/867/20180525/671459/