“I’ll bring wine.”
Wine culture is such an interesting phenomenon. We have a social culture that revolves around fermented grapes in juice form, where too much will cost you a wicked headache in the morning. Wine brings people together; from a classic girls night to wine touring to establishments based on candle-lit-atmosphere-cozy-seating-and-jazz-musician-in-the-corner. It’s been built into a hobby, a career, a community builder, I’d even go as far as to say a personality trait.
Myself, I love a glass of wine. My palette is a bit more refined now than it was in my early university, where the-cheaper-the-better was my way of navigating the wine section of the liquor store.
What has always peaked my interest in wine culture has been how science, culture, history and social phenomenon all overlap in one. From the science of fermentation to soil profiles to microclimates of vineyards, you can’t make wine without science. Then you have the cultural and historical significance. We can date it back to Mesopotamia, where the beverage signified status and a sign of fertility, and even present in today’s religions. 1 In our modern social world wine is prominent; from pairing with meals, to symbolizing celebration, to being a treat at the end of a day, to so much more in between.
Personally I would say I am a very amateur wine connoisseur. I know what I like, I know what I don’t like. Do I know what it is about the french Beaujolais Villages that makes it my favourite red wine? No. Is it the climate the grapes are grown in? The process? Or maybe it is just the fact that my father introduced it to me years ago and now we bond over our shared love of that bottle. Wine plays a big role in my life. As someone who claims one of her main hobbies to be socializing (don’t question it, we can get into that later), often it is over a glass of wine.
As I sat down to begin this endeavour, I figured I might as well do some research into my own patterns. A quick look up of the word “wine” in my text messages, and this is what came up
For me, wine plays a big role in connection with people. It’s almost like the opening cue of a very human time. There’s something about pouring a glass of wine, handing it to someone, and thinking, okay this is where it starts. I’ve had some hard conversations over wine, very frank ones, celebratory ones, exciting ones, nostalgic ones, just to name a few. The classic “what’s new?” or “how was work?” conversations. The ones where we all put our phones down, and your attention is on nothing but the people you are surrounded by. It’s an analogue activity, if you will.
So as I embark on this inquiry project, I’ll be researching a different wine region every week. A few of them I want to know more about because I already love the wine, and some of them are so unique that I feel as though I owe it to them to learn more.
With each region I’ll link science with culture, and bring back my findings. I’ll try a wine from that region, and list my own personal perspectives.