The never told secret to divine wines (part 1)

A while ago I was struggling with the question “What is a divine wine?”. I looked at it from all sides, sniffed at it, tasted it a bit and then…well then…it started to become clear.

And to take the road to clearness, the first step is a definition. So let’s take a look at the definition of divine.

Divine - a definition

A definition taken from the Webster dictionary.

Divine:
1 a : of, relating to, or proceeding directly from God or a god b : being a deity c : directed to a deity
2 a : supremely good : superb b : heavenly, godlike

So we are talking about superb, heavenly wines. I would guess this excludes your daily plonk. So it has to be something special, something godlike!

Divine = expensive?

So, do you have to open your wallet a lot for divinity? Ooooh yes! At least for me.

For this person a divine wine is in general expensive (around 15 to 20 EUR and often a lot more, but of course there are exceptions).

Be aware, the divine=expensive equation has not always been so (oh no) and can be explained (oh yes).

Education

Liking wines is also a bit understanding wines. Let’s compare it to your school period. When starting secondary school at 6 years, I guess you could write and read just a little bit. Well that’s why we have all those years at school, isn’t. If one would have dropped in your hands a book of Milan Kundera or Umberto Eco, you surely would not be able to appreciate it at that age (let stand to read it ;-)). Harry Potter, maybe.

Nowadays I -at least- can enjoy Milan Kundera a lot (this is a divine writer to me) and I enjoy a lot Harry Potter (which are great page turners, hey no divinity here, but a lot of pleasure).

Just the same with wines. You start off with Harry Potter wines, juicy, easy (to understand) wines and you work you’re way through to Milan Kundera wines, complex of an unseen elegance, difficult type of wines. And yes it is an education!

So it took me a couple (lot) of years to find my way to the complexity of e.g. a Barolo wine. Ooh so divine. And as most of us, I started of with a simple juicy wine, such as a Pays D’Oc merlot or …(just fill in). Maybe at that moment these were divine wines, but now they are no longer divine. Hey these type of wines can be pleasing and sometimes very pleasing. And it makes me smile when I find a wine in the “below 6 EUR category” that is great. Price quality ratio is important…but for GODLIKE wines, I score my stuff in the higher price ranges.

Part 2 can be found here!
If you want to become thirsty, just take a look at my never complete list of divine wines.

If you enjoyed this post, make my day and buy me a glass of wine.

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August 23, 2007 | Filed Under Tasting wines, Buying wine 

Comments

3 Responses to “The never told secret to divine wines (part 1)”

  1. Ahe. on August 24th, 2007 2:09 pm

    That’s the most ‘frustating’ when you like tasting wine… The more you know about wine, the more the wine costs… It’s not always like this, as you said there are very good wines for reasonable prices, but…

  2. kaat on August 26th, 2007 11:39 am

    ‘frustrating’, yes
    but knowledge also intensifies the experience of drinking wine - indeed prices go up, and our crocodiles get more then in earlier days, but the joy we have at drinking and understanding a “divine” wine is intensified. especially when you can enjoy together! and hey, it’s all about choosing, you can go to a football game and pay a lot more then 15€ to see 22+1 man run around chasing 1 ball… if they win it’s fun, when they loose… but, hey what do i know about the beauty of football :)
    i rather sit and enjoy some nice red’s - preferably in some nice company!

  3. bart on August 30th, 2007 9:45 am

    Well, I do not think it is “frustrating”. Actually it is “liberating”. Once you arrived at that stage you know you can appreciate those more expensive wines, you can understand them, and that is just so fun. You go well beyond the labels and go for your own “educated” taste.

    I take a look at it as solving a difficult mathematical problem. Once you solve it, you get such a satisfaction. Once you are able to understand those difficult wines, to appreciate them , it just give such a satisfaction.

    I also like the comparison of Kaat with a football game. Indeed, just pick the items where you want to spend your money…I know mine :-).

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