The question comes from left field: “I know why you drink wine, but why do you drink wine that way?” The questioner, of course, refers to the looking, swirling, sniffing, and several other “things” that we wine enthusiasts do when enjoying our favorite beverage. Clearly, we can all learn how to taste wine, but rarely do we give much thought to why we taste wine.
Perhaps we engage in swirling and sniffing before sipping because it’s what all of the other wine enthusiasts do. After all, no one wants to look like an obvious amateur at a wine tasting or in the company of a wine aficionado. This answer seems to be fair enough, but it leaves something to be desired. The “everyone else does it too” explanation amounts to little more than an excuse, and does not provide a good reason for doing what we do. In other words, why do we swirl and sniff when enjoying wine at home, with no one else around?
After giving the question some thought, I think I’ve come upon a real answer: why not? This response is not meant to be flip, although it might appear that way. In life, there are some things that are worth doing–somewhat akin to the principle that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. We could certainly drink wine without giving it a second thought, and there are plenty of people who do. For those of this mindset, wine is just another beverage, no more special than water, soft drinks, or coffee. But to drink wine in this manner is to miss so much of what the wine has to offer.
Would we think of visiting the Louvre without spending a bit of time in front of the Mona Lisa, trying to read the expression on her face? Would we be satisfied with listening to a twenty-second clip of Mozart’s Requiem? Of course not. When presented with the opportunity to study something great, we spend moments, minutes, or maybe even hours in the process. It’s part of what makes us human, it’s part of what it means to be alive.
A plaque hung near the back door of one of my parents’ houses many years ago that reminded the viewer to stop and smell the flowers. All of us rush around each day, chasing after kids, doing household chores, meeting billable hour requirements, and more. Rarely do we have the chance to sit and simply live. When we have a glass of wine in front of us, we could gulp it down like a common glass of iced tea, or we could slow down and actually enjoy it.
This, friends, is the answer I’ve come up with: we partake in the wine tasting ritual of looking, swirling, smelling, sipping, and then describing the wine because by doing so, for those brief moments, we live. We savor the gift given to us by the workers in the vineyard, the winemakers, the bottlers, the drivers who deliver the cases to our local wine shops, and everyone in between. To do any less is to share the attitude of the archetype American tourist who passes by the Mona Lisa and says, “Let’s keep moving. I’ve seen it on a postcard.”
Your homework assignment for this week is to simply live, and you get extra credit if you persuade another person to begin living as well. In the meantime, share your ideas about why we taste wine the way we do in the comments.
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