A New Outlook for 2013

Hello to all our Wine Spectre friends and Happy New Year!   We know that we’ve been neglecting our blog over the last few months primarily due to work, travel, etc., but in a way we feel that we’ve been rejuvenated as a result.  The last several months have taken us on a journey of experience to different places and different cultures, and not surprisingly, that journey has left us hungering (and thirsting!) for more.  

On these journeys, following on our experiences with our Pangaea Wine Bar, we’ve realized that our interest in wine really only touches on a single aspect of what makes a particular culture unique, and in fact is much broader than that.   It is also the land, the people, the food, and their experiences, because nothing can or should be viewed in a vacuum.  Just as we think about the concept of terroir as including the land, the air, the light of a particular place and the people in it, we should also consider our own experience as part of the mix, for surely all of these things contribute to the final product (for example, the glass of wine that seems to have tasted better in the Paris bistro or the café in Rome).   In the film “Sideways,” the character of Maya gives us one of the most evocative and memorable quotes about this more expansive view of terroir:

“I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing; how the sun was shining; if it rained. I like to think about all the people who tended and picked the grapes. And if it’s an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now. I like how wine continues to evolve, like if I opened a bottle of wine today it would taste different than if I’d opened it on any other day, because a bottle of wine is actually alive…”

This is the true concept of terroir, whether we’re speaking about wine, whisky, or other spirits, as well as the cuisine of a certain place.  In our lexicon, terroir will be used to represent not only the land, the air, the light, but also to refer more broadly to a true sense of place and time.

This is why you’ll start to see the Wine Spectre expand a bit outside the world of wine to both food and spirits.  We are both passionate cooks and for us, experimentation in different types of cuisine is one way to experience another place.  As well as food and other spirits, we will also begin to delve further into the world of whisky, particularly the malts of Scotland, as there is no greater expression of the terroir and sense of place than the connection you experience with the Scottish countryside.  A bit later we’ll discuss the idea of globalization, and how this presents ever more increasing risk to true terroir.

But for now, as we begin another happy weekend, we leave you with hopes that you will enjoy this evening with family and friends.  Maybe you will be inspired to do a little experimentation, or settle down with something warm and familiar.   In either case, as we always say, drink what you like, like what you drink!

Cheers,
Rachel & Bryan