Why are you into wine?

Can you answer that question honestly? (If you can, please leave your reason under comments. I would love to hear your answer.) There are dozens of reasons to love wine -- no, probably hundreds. And yet, too, there's just one.

Is it wine's taste that appeals to you most, or -- be honest, now! -- is it wine's association with the good life, with status and education and refinement? Perhaps it's the science of wine-making, which is indeed fascinating: all that chemistry, all those elements -- all those yeasts! Or perhaps it's the agricultural aspect of wine that interests you; as the cliche' has it, great wine is made in the vineyard, not in the winery (a cliche' I happen to think is true, for the most part). Even a short list of wine-grape names can sound like poetry: Cabernet, Chardonnay, Sangiovese and Syrah; Zinfandel, Muscadet, Merlot, Shiraz; Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Gewurztraminer; Pinot Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Viognier; Roussane, Nebbiolo, Barbarossa, Primitivo, Bastardo.

Or consider the words used to describe the various flavors your tongue discovers in well-made wine: jammy, buttery, oakey, smokey, cinnamon-y, pear, apricot, plum, lychee, grassy, asparagus, straw, chocolate, raspberry, blackberry, raisin, cigar-box, cedar, pine, tar, etc. etc. (My honeyman thinks a lot of these words are, as he calls them, "froo-froo." He'll describe a wine he likes as "tasting like Jerry Garcia's guitar sounds," while I'll describe a wine that "tastes like Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream.")

Or dream of the picture-postcard places associated with wine: Tuscany, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Alsace, the Val Loire, the Valley of the Moon, the Walla Walla Valley -- to name but a very, very few among hundreds.

Or remember the ancient, stoney smells of wineries you've visited: perhaps it is these old, mossy, earthy, faintly moist aromas that open your imagination to the long history of wine and wine-making and the peoples and cultures of the world that have learned to create art from a few sour grapes.

Why do we love wine? Maya, the character in the film "Sideways," sums it up for me:

MILES: ...Why are you into wine?

MAYA: I suppose I got really into wine originally through my ex-husband. He had a big, kind of show-off cellar. But then I found out that I have a really sharp palate, and the more I drank, the more I liked what it made me think about.

MILES: Yeah? Like what?

MAYA: Like what a fraud he was.
(Miles laughs.)

MAYA: No, but I do like to think about the life of wine, how it’s a living thing. I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing, how the sun was shining that summer or if it rained... what the weather was like. I think about all those people who tended and picked the grapes, and if it’s an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now. I love how wine continues to evolve, how every time I open a bottle its going to taste different than if I had opened it on any other day. Because a bottle of wine is actually alive -- it’s constantly evolving and gaining complexity. That is, until it peaks -- like your ‘61 -- and begins its steady, inevitable decline. And it tastes so fucking good.

Yep. It tastes so f---ing good.