Different life experiences spark different things in life. Sometimes it produces a physical response. Other times, it produces a deeply emotional response to borrow a word from the Pixar movie Inside Out (2015), creating a core memory. These responses are often involuntary or natural to us… Whether we recognize it or not…

People often ask: What inspires a love for wine?

If you ask me, I could philosophically say I fell in love with science, which comes from the knowledge that wine is the second most complicated liquid on Earth, only after blood in our body. Or I could cite an Italian chef in my youth, who was a mentor & a partner, who taught me how to cook with passion and love dry, oak-barrelled Italian wine while hating the French wines… Or my superficial side can simply say how I LOVE holding a tall, beautiful wine glass with dark red contrasting liquid that makes me look/feel sophisticated…

WineFoodie.Life exists in the hope that we can potentially help you define or even instill that initial spark, hope, or love for something that we obviously love 😉

As Bianca Bosker said in her book Cork Dork (2017), wine is a “private epiphany in the pleasure of good company”.

In a way, wine surpasses the function of typical beverages, which helps bring friends and community together because, unlike any other beverage where it usually tastes identical for the most part, the complexity and intricate composition of wine make it the only beverage we share with friends that we actually have different experiences. This is not only because we have different pallets and taste sensitivities but also because the actual liquid you are drinking (even from the same bottle) is actually, however, slightly different from what’s in your friend’s glass across from the table. This can be due to whether it was from the top of the bottle or the bottom, as well as the oxidation process that may have a different speed. While it may be a subtle distance, you are drinking a liquid that no one else in the world will ever taste.

More and more I taste and learn about wine, it is evidently clear that while wine is meant to be shared with your loved ones, cherished, saved for special occasions, and to be generously poured for celebration and friendship… the genuine appreciation of your bottle that you truly care for, or even love, is shared with you and yourself only. This makes the wine extremely exciting. It also makes the wine the only liquid design for a party of one.

Before long, wine becomes part of your life. And for once, it isn’t the alcohol you crave…  but the experience, especially how it made you feel the first time you drank it, the second sip… & how you want to revisit that state of mind, however you can or cannot describe it… is what you are craving. And this feeling, state of mind, euphoria, or however you want to explain it, can only be understood by those who have felt it. The ticket for this particular trip, however, is only available for a single rider… and that doesn’t change even if I was willing to share my precious Zinfandel from Alexander Valley…