Oenology

The above words is a foreign one to me. I know it's meaning, I even know the fundamental steps in creating wine (which for those that didn't know, is a simple definition of the word), but other than knowing there are red and white varieties, that's it. My knowledge of the subject is stunted. A friend of mine knows (at least I think she does) quite a bit about wines and their varieties, she can even pronounce the French names that I stumble over with ease. Her knowledge and having watched the movie "Sideways" were always a reason for me to be learned in the world of wine.

The reason for such an interest is that I feel I'm missing something. When I have heard of wine tastings and asked if I would be interested in attending one, I pictured a bunch of affluent snobs rubbing elbows as they tried to one-up each other with stories of their most recent corporate take-over. That was a few years ago and I haven't been invited to wine tastings for quite some time now. If asked to join in on the affair now, I'd make sure my schedule was open. I want to see if I can experience the flavors that I've heard others discuss where before all I tasted was a fermented grape. Hearing some of the descriptions given of the wines sampled in "Sideways" got me to wondering if those tastes were actually noticeable, or just a bunch of talk to make others, like myself, feel left out of the clique.

I picked up the novel "Sideways" a few months ago because I, like many others, tend to believe that the book is always much more enjoyable than the movie. (The only exclusion from the rule would be "Fight Club". I liked both the book and movie and felt that each had their strengths over the other.) I just finished reading it a few days ago, and it was a good book. I had trouble getting past much of the wine terminology, since I've yet to have similar experiences with wine, but other than that it was a pretty funny story. Much different than the movie, and I think this will continue on in my book-over-movie beliefs. The novel delved much deeper into the wines than the movie was able to, though. This has helped catapult my interest even more. There are thousands of wines in the world, each with their distinctive niche, and, although I will never experience even a large fraction of them, I want to see if there is anything to the enormous glossary of terminology that wine has gathered for itself.

Since I'm still recovering from my tonsil procedure from last Friday and still taking the antibiotics, this journey will have to wait, but I will try to take a new perspective on this beverage that I so long viewed as "out of my league". I won't be opposed to drinking Merlot either. (Which saw a large decrease in consumption after "Sideways" was released due to the main character's exclamation that if the women he was meeting with ordered Merlot, he would get up and leave. He would, "NOT drink any fucking Merlot!" It's strange how even a fictional character can have such an impact on the tastes of others.)