Most of us meet a wine only at the very end of its life - poured, at last, into the glass. But by then it has already traveled a long and circuitous route, and nearly every step along the way has left its mark on what you are about to taste.
It begins in the vineyard, with the soil, the slope, and the weather of a single year. It continues through the harvest, the press, the barrel, and the patient months of aging; then the bottling, the shipping, and the cellar. A wine can be made or unmade at any point - which is why provenance and storage matter as much as pedigree.
Even the glass plays its part. A well-shaped Riedel is not affectation; it directs the wine and its aromas to meet your senses at their best. Understand the journey, and you drink with more than your palate - you drink with the whole story in hand.
Originally published in View AZ Highlife Magazine, June / July 2007.