What are you looking for?

So much about what we read in wine blogs seem to center on ones finding a particular wine and then telling the world about it. Often it is written in a style that can make the reader feel like there is something the writer is writing about, a little secret wine or a special group of people that have gotten together to taste the forbidden fruit. Forbidden to you, not to the insiders who exult their aggrandizements.

But really, what does that do for you? If there is something rare and one of a kind how does sharing that information make your quest less taxing? We all rack up this old wine and that one but you might be coming to these blogs and say to yourself, “What the hell? I’ll never find that wine and taste it with all the illustrious folks that I am reading about. I might as well grab a Coors and forget about the whole thing!”

Or you could turn off the laptop, the blackberry, the Iphone or the Flip, grab a corkscrew and open that bottle of wine you just brought home. Forget if it isn't organic or farmed sustainably. In fact, pour the darn bottle into a plane carafe so the label and the provenance doesn’t get in the way of simply enjoying it for the pleasure of what it is, a miracle.

I recently got an email from a person that follows the wine trail in Italy; here’s what they had to say: “Dear Alfonso, why don’t you write more wine notes? It seems you taste a lot of wine and have access to great wines, not just from Italy, but from all over? You must have notes you take, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if you would just share them once in a while? You have such a vivid imagination and tell so many stories that lead up to the bottle of wine. But then you stop right there, leaving me wondering how the wine tastes.”

Dear reader, thank you. But the paths that each and every one of us takes are different. I could no more tell you how a wine will taste to you than I could describe a color or a combination of aromas one might encounter on a run in the country. That is up to you. I can point out a road or two, but the journey is yours to take.

And likewise, when reading about a great tasting, here or elsewhere, don’t get too invidious. All isn’t what it seems. It is fleeting and transitory. With more heading this way. And also not just for the precious few who are fortunate enough to sample some of the great wines that intersect their paths. You too, have the same opportunity to taste greatness in any wine. They don’t have to be harvested during a waxing moon. All it takes is an open heart.

Now, where did I put that corkscrew?

written and photographed by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy