Patience

Wine is something that requires immense patience.  From the growing of the grapes to the aging of the wine in a barrel or bottle, to learning about and appreciating it, wine takes patience.  I believe that this is something that draws me to wine, but I struggle with wanting to be too patient sometimes, so there is a fine line that I have to walk in the wine world.  I want to learn about the grape growing process, but I don’t have the patience to do the tedious work that grape growing requires (believe me, I tried one afternoon and hated it).  I want my bottles of wine to age and be at their peak when I drink them, but I don’t want to wait to drink them, and I especially don’t want to wait too long to open them.  Learning to appreciate wine is the one area that I seem to have infinite patience.  I know that this is the case because of the 3 examples I’ve listed here, appreciating wine is by far the easiest and the most enjoyable, but still, wine can be overwhelming and it does take a great deal of patience to learn your way around your vintages, varietals, and vintners.

I would love to own a vineyard and be in charge of making a wine throughout the entire process, but as I learned about 8 years ago when I spent the afternoon working in a vineyard, I just don’t have the patience to see the process all the way through.  I’d love to learn about the wine making process, but the grape growing process is something I can live without.  My inability and unwillingness to learn more about the grape growing process detracts a bit from my potential enjoyment of a wine, but it does give me an immense respect for those that are able to masterfully grow grapes to create quality wine.

How long to age wine is something that anyone that has a nice bottle has wondered at some point.  It is quite the dilemma.  You just bought (likely) an expensive bottle of wine that you want to enjoy now, but instead, the “experts” say it needs to age for a few years, and that anyone that opens it too young is wasting it.  Well, everyone likes wine for different reasons, and wine will taste differently depending on the day you open it.  My best advice here is better safe than sorry.  Always be sure to open your prized bottles well before there is any chance they could start to go bad.  After all, there is nothing worse than buying a nice bottle and letting it age too long.  Wine is meant to be consumed.  It isn’t meant to sit in a cellar and rot.

Patience in the appreciation of wine is a must.  This is because wine is very much an acquired taste.  I remember the first time I tried wine and I remember hating it, wondering how anyone could ever enjoy it.  Well, after trying it several more times, I began to learn the taste and I began to taste more than just the tannin that I had experienced with my first sip.  This is appreciation at its basic level, but truly appreciating wine requires more than just tolerance of the taste.  To appreciate wine, you must be patient enough to try multiple examples of a single varietal, region, vintage, or wine maker.  This gives you perspective and will allow you to learn more about the distinctions that can be found in each bottle.  This is not something that can be gained quickly; this appreciation is like a database that your senses slowly build as you try each new bottle of wine.  And, after the months and years of trying wine, you’ll build quite the database from which to draw reference as needed.

It’s strange to talk about patience with reference to a beverage, but in the case of wine, patience is very important.  Each step of the way, patience is required in wine making, wine aging, and its enjoyment.  While various aspects of wine can easily try your patience, for the most part, being patient with wine is easier than being patient with people.