Premier Vintage
Walk the Wine may be a shameless play on a popular film and the music of the “man in black,” but it really seems appropriate. . .to me, anyway. Walk the Wine is about the quest for those things in life with the power to transform the routine and ordinary into memorable, life-affirming events.
If you have any luck at all in this life, then you know already what a great wine can do for a simple gathering of friends around a dinner table. The chemistry crackles, the food blossoms with enhanced flavors, worries are diluted to insignificance in an expansive setting of rich sensations.
Sound like hyperbole? Maybe a little. But I can’t tell you how many times my liberal and conservative friends have smiled at each other with genuine warmth while riding the fragrant wave of a Williams-Selyem pinot noir or while succumbing to the earthy pull of a Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Even the most humble of snacks can become manna when you are sitting with friends on a winery patio sipping a quality vintage while looking out at acres of vineyards.
Obviously, truly great wines can lift our spirits in just such a way. But what many fail to appreciate is that far less expensive wines, chosen wisely, can surprise and delight – plugging us instantly into the good life for which we yearn. It doesn’t require a lot of money, but it does require a little bit of work. You’ve got to hunt for it; talk it up with friends who know wines; make friends with a wine proprietor who knows his or her stuff. You’ve got to Walk the Wine.
In this blog, I will share news of my finds while also conveying, I hope, some of the fun and consummate joy to be found in the Walk. I hope others will share as well. I welcome all comments...that are not horribly off-topic or spam. Like corked wine, these offenses will go right down the drain.
My other pledge is to never promote or push a wine in which I or an acquaintance has any kind of financial interest (I wish I had such financial interests!). I did work (as a second job) in a wine store for several years, and it did help me learn a great deal. But I sometimes feel that chiefly I learned how much I did not know about wine. This blog, then, is part of a continuing journey of discovery. I hope you’ll join me for the Walk.
JD
If you have any luck at all in this life, then you know already what a great wine can do for a simple gathering of friends around a dinner table. The chemistry crackles, the food blossoms with enhanced flavors, worries are diluted to insignificance in an expansive setting of rich sensations.
Sound like hyperbole? Maybe a little. But I can’t tell you how many times my liberal and conservative friends have smiled at each other with genuine warmth while riding the fragrant wave of a Williams-Selyem pinot noir or while succumbing to the earthy pull of a Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Even the most humble of snacks can become manna when you are sitting with friends on a winery patio sipping a quality vintage while looking out at acres of vineyards.
Obviously, truly great wines can lift our spirits in just such a way. But what many fail to appreciate is that far less expensive wines, chosen wisely, can surprise and delight – plugging us instantly into the good life for which we yearn. It doesn’t require a lot of money, but it does require a little bit of work. You’ve got to hunt for it; talk it up with friends who know wines; make friends with a wine proprietor who knows his or her stuff. You’ve got to Walk the Wine.
In this blog, I will share news of my finds while also conveying, I hope, some of the fun and consummate joy to be found in the Walk. I hope others will share as well. I welcome all comments...that are not horribly off-topic or spam. Like corked wine, these offenses will go right down the drain.
My other pledge is to never promote or push a wine in which I or an acquaintance has any kind of financial interest (I wish I had such financial interests!). I did work (as a second job) in a wine store for several years, and it did help me learn a great deal. But I sometimes feel that chiefly I learned how much I did not know about wine. This blog, then, is part of a continuing journey of discovery. I hope you’ll join me for the Walk.
JD
posted by JD at 5:41 PM
2 Comments:
Hello I from Portugal, and I had read your post about wines.
so i think we have something in common, I like good wines to.
I recomender Portuguese wines for me they are great, i prefer wines from the north of portugal (called gren wine) but the ones from Alentejo (south) are the most appreciable for the majority.
well I hope you have the chance to taste some Portuguese wine, and I bett that you will be fond of.
salutations from Portugal
Thanks for the recommendation. Would you believe I was just enjoying some Noval '98 LBV in front of the fire tonight! But I know what you're saying, there's far more from Portugal to look for than just port. Trouble is we don't get a large number of Portuguese wines other than port. But I'll keep my eye out for them, particularly those from the north.
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