The Light and Dark of It — Terroir Talking | Nature, Spirit, Wine | Stories about nature and the life within wine | Interviews with winemakers and growers about their relationship with nature.

Reflection No. 29

Imagine yourself inside a beautiful baroque theatre, waiting for the curtain to rise. The lights have dimmed, the doors have closed and you are surrounded by darkness. In this mysterious place, you cannot see but you can sense all the shapes, colors and textures within the depths of blackness. Swirling a glass of a vintage Bordeaux, a Napa Valley old-vine Zinfandel or a classic Priorat is like this moment in the theatre. It looks dark, impenetrable, but you sense with anticipation all that is about to be revealed. With your first inhalation, the vibrant performance of flavors confirms that what is before you is not mere blackness.

Now imagine snorkeling in the tropics just below the surface of the water. Your senses swim inside liquid sunlight, and a myriad of shapes and colors of life glide in and out of view. This is the sensation that a wine like a Pinot Noir from Burgundy or a Zweigelt from Austria reveals. Close your eyes, swirl your glass, breathe deeply and take a sip. The experience is a vibrant kaleidoscope of color and light, and you are in a state of rapture that is different from yet every bit as pleasing as being suspended inside the darkness.

There are many types, and experiences, of great wines. What is important is that the nature that gave the wine life remains alive and able to speak. If the fruit was overripe, if the oak it was aged in is overbearing, you will taste only a wine, maybe even a pleasing wine. But if the wine takes you on a journey, an exploration of the somatic stimulation, and imparts messages of sense of place, you will know it is alive. The next time you lift your glass to your nose, close your eyes, let yourself go and see where it takes you.