My Wine Revelations

Posted by Tom Wark on Jun 26, 2008

We learn about ourselves and our world through little mini revelations. I’ve had a few over the years as they relate to my life and wine. Here are my Top Ten Wine Revelations

10. Stony Hill Chardonnay
Stony Hill’s Chardonnays, those crisp, lemony, minerally, long-lived gems, were the first wines that possessed me and put me on a quest. I wanted to taste and/or have every single one ever produced. My collection, unfortunately stops somewhere in the very early 70s, meaning I’m missing at least about 15 vintages. Still, this was the first wine that spoke to me and my palate.

9. They pay you to work in the wine industry
Can you believe it? It still gives me the giggles.

8. Wine Producing Regions Are the Best Places to Live
Say what you will about ocean-side retreats, mountain vistas, the great cities of the world and deserted islands. It’s wine country, I discovered, that attracts folks that demand pleasure be given a greater space in their lives, who will support local efforts to provide that and who, as a whole, are usually very interesting to be around.

7. Austrian Ice Wine
This is a recent revelation I have Winemonger.com to thank for. Drinking these little bottled orgasms are akin to engaging in a violent wrestling match with a velvet-clad Scarlett Johansson.

6. There is No Relationship Between What’s On the Outside and Inside of the Bottle
If you think that the appearance of the bottle has anything to say about the juice inside then I want your contact information and that of your family because you are bound to be a great prospect for the sale of a bridge I’m in possession of. I would have been such a prospect until I got into the business of designing wine packaging and discovered that wine packaging is often an exercise in disguising what’s inside the bottle.

5. Wine is a Business That Brings Out the Hungry Dogs
It truly is a dog-eat-dog business. This I discovered when I first started dabbling in the politics of wine and discovered that all wine politics are about dividing up the spoils and that fairness plays no role in the division of wine’s profits. Folks will say, do and try just about anything to control as much of wine’s lucre.

4. Rose on a Summer Day is Better than Pot
I knew I was addicted to Rose & Summer when my mind habitually started drifting to this combination around January. Call me dreamy, overindulgent, hedonistic or just lazy, but to this day I can think of no better buzz than a 90 degree summer day and my own bottle of Dry Rose.

3. Top Critics know nothing about my palate
"This got 95 points? You’re fucking kidding me? This is swill!"

2. BV Private Reserve: Good Wine is Good
The year was 1985 and I’d begun my wine education by reading books and drinking cheap wine while in college. I had to steal this wine off the shelf by placing the price tag of a cheap wine over the BV Private Reserve Cab’s price tag. The college student behind the cash register had no idea what he was selling me so the caper went off without a hitch. I took the bottle back to my place, opened it and discovered I loved wine.

1. Serious Wine Drinkers Are Always More Interesting People
This is the single most important revelation that has hit me about wine. I has always been true and I suspect it always will. It appears that those folks that are attracted to wine in an unusually compulsive way also happen to be the folks willing to explore all sorts of interesting ideas, tend to think more deeply, tend to want to converse more seriously and tend to place great emphasis on living well. I’ll take that.