08 December 2014

Why We Drink.

Why? It is often an excellent question, so fine in fact, I doubt we really bother to ask ourselves it all that much. I've been having a bit of a figurative toss about with the idea of 'cultural exchange'. So much so, I thought for a tasting I'd been asked to host, maybe this big eponymous 'why' question might just be an interesting way to frame the tasting. Well, it turns out I was rather wrong about it being a novel idea to frame a tasting with actually. The tone was something much more low key. But, in the spirit of interest, in the closing minutes as everyone swirled their favourite glass, I asked. "Why?"
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@Rob_Gilmour has been writing for Empty for too long to mention, he is currently working in wine in Edinburgh where he runs @Wine_Edinburgh and somehow has found time to be Vice-President of the @IWSScotland. Being a balanced, multifaceted individual Rob's only interest in not wine, he is also interested in wine education as well having passed with distinction his WSET L3. If you'd like to contact him email: emptyglassie@gmail.com 

Like a clumsy Grenache touching down on the palate, the answer was quite crude even if it did raise a little giggle in the room. The quip revealed a simple equation wherein children give rise to the necessity of an adult sedative that allowed for potential semi-functioning in the short to medium term of a night if need might arise.

It's a small antidote. Just a small window into how we cognitively engage with what we've thrown in our glass, however, it is a little frightening too. Is that really all we look for when we pull something off the wine rack? It strikes me that if we are going to go out of our way to poison ourselves, we ought to think a little bit about it and really ask this big glaring 'why' question. 

So, we come to my toss-about-thought; cultural exchange or engagement as I might be refining it to. We do it with so many things already, and they're all really quite 'poisonous' in their own way too, music, earphones, damaged hearing. Cinema, glaring screens, damaged eyesight. Yet, we've already so many meanings attached to these cultural pursuits that we've figured it's worth it. Anyway we all know somewhere we're finite organ-bags and it's probably best to get some meaningful cognitive engagements in while we're here.
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Like what you've read? Have a wee gander at another post: Empty & Full; The Stop, Start nature of Empty

Wine, I'd argue, has so many wonderful chords to play. We can, like with music and film, engage directly with those around us, swap and discover new and interesting things, form likes and dislikes, refine our in-groups. But something else got me thinking about this cultural engagement lark, our ability to engage with the out-groups of our world; the cultures where the wines come from. The discovery does not have to be on a person to person level, we can interact with the wine of a region or country and view a slice of their culture, all at no relatively huge cost. It allows us to take something from the table of someone we'll never meet and share the same experience.    

While, I might take flak for such highly strung thoughts, many people do engage with wine in this way already, they just haven't put a name on what they are doing yet. Think of the numerous people drinking that Rioja that reminds them of their Spanish holiday. In the wine trade, I feel we've been manipulative of these emotions, turned them to sales pitches. So much so, that those we sell our experiences to no longer find merit to the idea of engaging meaningfully with wine. Now, it's simply a product. 

Ironically, as taxes rise on alcohol and wine, the trade feigns helpless. Woe stories are the common currency of debate about the damage these taxes have on our lives. Yet, we've lost the moral high ground and even forget what it was in the first place. As it stands, we are a merchant class whining about the fall in profits we've suffered from peddling something we've reduced to the level of a meaningless drug. Wine shouldn't be the medicine to forget the world but one of the tools we can discover it with. It's about time the wine trade remembered that.  
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Like what you've read? Have a wee gander at another post: Smoke & Substance

Wines to Try

Barons de Rothschild, Champagne, Blanc de Blanc NV, Vino Wines £59.95
I've been talking about this wine all year. Meeting the winemaker, Jean-Philipphe Moulin, at the winery in June did nothing to quell the flames of my admiration. A truly startling champagne. Razor acidity and freshness. A beautifully long life lies ahead of this wine. While it is expensive, it is interesting to see the vision of Jean-Philipphe Moulin, the ex Chef de Cave of Ruinart, at work. 

Rolly Gassman, Alsace, Gewurztraminer 2012, WoodWinters, £18.75
BUCKET LOADS OF SUGAR and yet totally in harmony. Stereotypical Gewurz that reminds you, if you do, why you love Gewurz. Full bodied, yet friendly, Punchy yet gently floral and all with some ginger kicks. What's not to love? 

Schug, Carenos, Pinot Noir, 2011, WoodWinters, £27.00
Those fleeting moments with Pinot Noir, where everything it was ever sold to you as finally comes true. An aroma and flavour that harps to a decadently decaying western world. Mushrooms, game and tertiary elements swamp the nose and palate. Then suddenly you realise the streak of fresh cranberry striking forth, dragging you back for more. A really bloody good drop of Pinot Noir. 

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