Wine the centaur
Marco Pallanti notes
Is it possible to see oneself reflected in wine? I am not alluding to Narcissus staring into alcohol, but I am wondering rather if wine can legitimately be considered representative of civil society. Let us see. First consideration: for those who have witnessed, from infancy on, that diurnal pagan ceremony, the solemn kitchen decanting of the afternoon sandwich snack, wine and sugar are a kind of evocative madeleine. Energy is sought today in other sources of nutrition, and wine has lost its nutritive value. Second consideration: the loyalty that bound us to the traditional small farmer transcended our purchase: the wine served to bring us into contact with higher meanings linked to its production, its taste was shaped by the differences expressed by each different growing area. Today, in contrast, the goal of reaching ever broader swathes of consumers leads only to uniformity, for all that matters is saleability. Final consideration: every holiday saw Grandfather take out a bottle he had patiently cellared. The wine was poured and the toast was made to the pleasures of age, from which he took indirect pleasure. We live today in a society in which duration, complexity, wisdom are not important; one must hasten to consume all right now, to attribute absolute value to the moment. But we must insist: wine is a centaur: a being half nature and half reflection, that one fully appreciates only when one succeeds in expressing it.
29.03.2006