the science of winemaking

I always want the story behind a wine. Writing tasting notes interests me less than the human dramas behind the discovery of a piece of land, or an inheritance, or indeed the narrative that we all make of our lives with the benefit of hindsight. Our narratives adjust themselves over time to bring us, via twists and turns, over hill and over dale,... See more

Everybody adored Anthony Barton. If he had been unspeakably rude to everybody he met, and if his dog had been an attack dog rather than a lolloping red setter, would we all have liked Léoville Barton less? He didn’t philosophise at you; instead he made you laugh and passed on bits of gossip and treated you, however young and ignorant you were, as... See more

things that can be said about wine writing that can also be said about textiles:

• Wine is a sensual experience with an object with which we engage, and the story of that engagement is worth telling.

• Writing about wine is a worthy attempt to surmount the limitations of language in describing both flavors and evanescent states in general.

• Wine belongs to

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And this is the whole point of wine: Wine is made to be consumed. This is its purpose. It is fulfilling the purpose for which it was made. This goes back to whether it’s a craft or an art. It’s craft, because it allows you to use it. You can use it. You can take it in and experience something. There’s an obvious effect of every wine, and there are... See more

MM: There’s something about performance where the actors need the audience, and the audience needs the actors. The same is true with wine. Wine is an experience good. It doesn’t exist until you drink it. It’s like Schrödinger’s cat: Until you observe it, it isn’t in one state or another.

TT: It’s just potential energy, locked up in its little glass... See more

Wine is just the topic. But it’s not the story.