Kristen Lewis shares her calm, methodical approach to wine education. (I still prefer my chaotic, untrained non-strategy. But I now have a newfound respect for the WSET curriculum).
I have always despised the technical side of wine when it begins to interfere with the pleasure of drinking it. I especially loathe hearing people use large words they do not quite understand to explain something that did not need explaining in the first place.
People have a remarkable tendency to overanalyze what is directly in front of them. They may be book smart and fluent in every accepted term, yet have no real understanding of what is in their glass or on their plate. Knowledge is useful. Performance is not.
I saw plenty of this during my thirty years as a chef, when customers would explain my own thought process back to me. I saw it again when I worked in the wine industry as an assistant winemaker, where guests often arrived armed with the latest wine term they had learned and were determined to use it before lunch.
A close friend of mine, who has a serious palate, was once conducting a tasting with three scholarly gentlemen. They worked their way through nearly every ridiculous wine description known to man. Eventually they turned to Dan and asked what he found in the glass.
“Grapes,” he said.
I do not need to verbalize a perfect sunset in order to understand it. I do not need to define love before I can recognize its power. I only need to know that both can stop me where I stand.
Wine is poetry. Wine needs food, and food needs wine. They belong to one another, and I am quite happy living inside that relationship.
Choose the right bottle, give it the proper age, put it beside the right food, and it can make your day betterer.
Great article!
Thank you!!
What a fun read! I'm a little bit curriculum, a little bit chaos!!
I love that!!!
Love this!
Understand wine? Do you mean relate to it?
I have always despised the technical side of wine when it begins to interfere with the pleasure of drinking it. I especially loathe hearing people use large words they do not quite understand to explain something that did not need explaining in the first place.
People have a remarkable tendency to overanalyze what is directly in front of them. They may be book smart and fluent in every accepted term, yet have no real understanding of what is in their glass or on their plate. Knowledge is useful. Performance is not.
I saw plenty of this during my thirty years as a chef, when customers would explain my own thought process back to me. I saw it again when I worked in the wine industry as an assistant winemaker, where guests often arrived armed with the latest wine term they had learned and were determined to use it before lunch.
A close friend of mine, who has a serious palate, was once conducting a tasting with three scholarly gentlemen. They worked their way through nearly every ridiculous wine description known to man. Eventually they turned to Dan and asked what he found in the glass.
“Grapes,” he said.
I do not need to verbalize a perfect sunset in order to understand it. I do not need to define love before I can recognize its power. I only need to know that both can stop me where I stand.
Wine is poetry. Wine needs food, and food needs wine. They belong to one another, and I am quite happy living inside that relationship.
Choose the right bottle, give it the proper age, put it beside the right food, and it can make your day betterer.
I love your approach - wine is poetry!