Greetings fellow wine lovers! Each month, it will be my great pleasure to share with you my passion for the grape, and more specifically, its well-known and much-beloved social derivation wine. Over the past eight years, I have conducted wine tasting events for roughly 80,000 people from all walks of life in a variety of locations. In the realm of market research, I feel confident that this would qualify as a fairly extensive “study”. After all this “research”, I have come to one indisputable conclusion: My childhood upbringing in Europe and the knowledge of wine it provided me, make even more sense to me now as I witness the enjoyment and bliss of those around me who are also lovers of wine. Allow me to explain further I grew up in Belgium in a family that took wine consumption very seriously and thus began sampling wines at a very young age. My earliest memory of the taste of wine was at the tender age of four. Remember, this was on the European continent and many moons ago. It was very common in those days for European parents to allow a curious youngster a sip from their wine glass in order to satisfy the child’s curiosity. This sampling would almost always result in a pronounced reaction of disgust from the youngster as the anticipation didn’t measure up to the payoff. Funny how our tastes change My grandfather possessed one of the largest private wine collections in Europe, which meant that in our family, no meal would pass without the enjoyment of a nice bottle of wine, or more correctly, the quest for a great bottle of wine. This journey of wine discovery is what I remember most vividly about our family meals and larger family gatherings. Although my family was very well versed in the world of wine and were what I would consider great connoisseurs, I never once heard the statement, “This has a wonderful bouquet.” In our family, nobody ever tried to impress guests with fancy wine terminology or stuffy proclamations. It was our belief that the only terminology used to describe wine should make sense and be easy to understand what you liked or didn’t like about a particular wine thereby dramatically increasing the chances of ending up with a wine you would love. Then there was my favorite part of the “process” the stories. Always, there would be stories about the wines being poured. Stories about where the wines had been purchased, who had brought them, how they came to be in our presence. The person who discovered the wine would tell the story to the rest of the table. Stories of how their car had broken down in the South of France, and how their encounter with the farmer who had helped them resulted in a meal with the farmer’s family, who coincidentally happened to be the producers of the wonderful red table wine being served at the farmer’s home that night. From their family to ours, as it were! The stories of the families and vineyards behind the wines at our table always made “the juice” come to life. Talk about a quest talk about romance Another important element to the “romance” component of any wine experience is the company with whom the wine is shared. I think we would all agree that a bottle of wine shared with old friends over a great meal in the backyard during a beautiful spring night tastes completely different than that same bottle of wine consumed during a meal with feuding children, a critical mother-in-law and a downpour outside the window. Same wine completely different experience! As you can see, the enjoyment of a fine bottle of wine depends on so much more than the actual “juice” itself. The friends, the story, the environment in which it is consumed, all play a crucial role in helping to create the romance which accompanies the wine. In the months ahead, I look forward to sharing more family stories from the old country, as well as plenty of wine basics to help enhance your journey. In closing, I’d like to ask you to remember just one thing: Wine = Fermented Grape Juice + ROMANCE! As always I encourage you to continue on your own journey of discovery in the wonderful world of wine. Cheers! Peter Goossens is the founder of the Loose Goose Wine Festival (the largest wine festival in the Los Angeles Area), and the Loose Goose Wine Society. He can be reached at 661-799-WINE or via email at [email protected].
