As I’ve said many times before, luxury depends on how you interpret it. Wines come in countless varieties (and can get astronomically expensive); for one person, drinking a bottle of 1947 Château Cheval Blanc will be true luxury, while for another, a glass of $5 white wine with will be pure bliss. Recently Reuters blogger Felix Salmon hammered this point home in a very interesting piece called “Vine Talk: Enjoying wine for pleasure, not price“. Salmon describes how many people don’t enjoy wine because it is often taken so seriously:

What’s missing is any sense of fun, or of simple pleasures: a bottle of screw-top rose can be cheaper, more appropriate, and much more delicious at a summer picnic than a six-pack of beer. And it would prove more versatile, too, if only people felt comfortable adding some seltzer water or cooling it down with a couple of ice cubes.

Perhaps some who take wine too seriously could try to have some fun with it, but at the same time, those who don’t know much about wine might appreciate it more (and start purchasing more expensive bottles) if they take the time to cultivate wine connoisseurship and learn a bit more about what wines they like. Knowing how you interpret luxury, and understanding the role of luxury in different situations, can really help you find more pleasure in your life.

Photo by emurray

There was a fascinating article on wine published in Slate this week: The Greatest Wine on the Planet: How the ‘47 Cheval Blanc, a defective wine from an aberrant year, got so good. It’s about how this particular Bordeaux, through a confluence of controllable and uncontrollable factors, became the Bordeaux against which all other Bordeaux are compared. The author, Mike Steinberger, had the chance to try the ‘47 Cheval Blanc at a wine tasting, and described it as

the warmest, richest, most decadent wine I’d ever encountered. Even more striking than its opulence was its freshness. The flavors were redolent of stewed fruits and dead flowers, yet the wine tasted alive; it bristled with energy and purpose.

As one would expect it’s becoming increasingly rare, but it remains at the top of the ‘to-try’ list for many a wine connoisseur. Read the whole article here.