Friday
Feb052010
Taste is Personal (or is it?)
February 5, 2010 
I live in a house that overlooks a vineyard on the edge of a village that is one of five. Between all our villages lie miles of orchards, greenhouses and vineyards. Fifteen miles north is Lake Ontario and fifteen miles south is the Niagara Escarpment. The lake and the escarpment have come together to create a microclimate and in that very special environment, wine grapes and fruit will grow.
On my way to work I see peach, apple, plum, pear, cherry and apple orchards. Until we moved here six years ago, I thought sugar plums were for fairy tales, but they’re real, if you pluck one right off the tree it tastes like it has been dusted with sugar. During harvest, when the fruit is ripe on the trees and the day is warm and humid you can smell peaches in the air.
The closest winery is minutes away, there are over sixty wineries within a half hour driving radius of our home. I often joke that it is easier to buy wine than it is to find a store that sells milk! There are wineries that when I come through the door, the owners know my name, I take a certain pride in that, not because of how much wine I buy, but because of the sense of community.
I’ve been to wine tastings and sat filled with wonder while more experienced wine drinkers swirl the wine in the bowl of the glass, sniff deeply and then taste, chewing the wine and slurping it over their palates. Then they speak of leather and stables; caramel and gunflint; chalk and limestone. The taste of a stable? Gunflint? Limestone? How do they know this? Where do those associations come from?
I am learning. Sometimes I can taste berries or citrus or even the oak barrel the wine was fermented in. The taste is often complex, not as simple as describing it as citrus. I wish I could say, I taste a fresh peeled orange on a cold, clear Christmas eve, the air scented with cloves and cinnamon from fresh baked cookies in a house blissfully filled with family and friends. That would sound crazy, wouldn’t it? Then I realize, I could say it, I could simply say, “This tastes like Christmas.” And someone might understand what I mean. Our taste is so personal it comes packaged in memories and imaginations but it is possible that we share a collective memory that allows us to know exactly what someone else means.
Sometimes, to tease, Barry and I will intentionally use words that are as nonsensical as the words the experts use, we might say, “corduroy” or “denim”. “Indeed … this is a chewy little wine, reminiscent of chenille”. It often takes the experts a minute to catch our joke.
When I see an image I must capture or a phrase flits through my mind, I know exactly what I want to share. That is where I struggle, the same way I do with describing the tastes and aromas enveloped in one sip of wine, how do I translate this? How do I put eye to viewfinder, finger to shutter release, pen to paper, brush to canvas and convert all of that into one image or thought and not end up with a convoluted mess?
I am learning to calm the chaos and excitement. I stop, I breathe, I am trying to let inspiration gently make her way to me instead of me giving chase and grabbing at air.
I am learning to trust that when I say, “I detect a grassy note”, someone will know that I mean a fine morning with crisp laundry snapping on the line, a freshly mown lawn, ice melting in a glass, a lounge chair and soft lemon coloured light from a summer sun.
I am learning that one phrase, a single photograph, or even a page of writing can distill a lifetime abundance of memories, emotions and dreams into one sweet taste.
I am learning to trust that you will taste it too.
Cheers!
Reader Comments (15)
I can taste the sweet wine...see the crisp winter morning...hear what you say as you describe your experiences in the world. Love the verbiage (is that a word?) you've given to the wine tastes..and the visuals of the vineyards themselves. Words so beautifully crafted!!!
"I am learning to calm the chaos and excitement. I stop, I breathe, I am trying to let inspiration gently make her way to me instead of me giving chase and grabbing at air." I love this paragraph!
You live in an awesome place and you write so beautifully about it.
a magical place...a soft "linen" feel ..elk
My husband just read this. He said, "Darling, do you KNOW where you live?" I said, "Of course, that's what the whole post is about." He then pointed out that my claims of 15 miles north and south are no where near correct. Apparently the correct distance is about 3 kilometres. He suggested that perhaps in the future I use phrases such as "a stone's throw away". I will admit it, I am geographically challenged, it seemed far!
xo
I'll be right over. Your home is beautiful.
You have exquisite taste, and amazing talent.
I love it.
what a wonderful writing piece. good for you sister.
I love your description of "detecting a grassy note". With the laundry snapping and the lemon coloured light, I am almost there. Beautiful.
You paint a beautiful picture with your words, Kath. Got a spare bedroom or twenty? I have a feeling you might be needing it after this post. ;)
I'll drink to that!
Wonderful, wine tasting is a perfect analogy for this little taste of heaven here!
No, no, no matter what you say, I will always believe sugar plums exist only in fairy tales. They taste like Christmas.
:)
After such a weekend of celebration for me, dear Kath, this has been a perfect post to read. I raise my glass to YOU and sing the praise of your own celebratory life.
"I am learning to calm the chaos and excitement. I stop, I breathe, I am trying to let inspiration gently make her way to me instead of me giving chase and grabbing at air."
Love this Kath!!
wonderful post kath, i too love wine. i was lucky enough to spend some time learning from a former stellenbosch academy wine master (the academy in south africa, we were now living in botswana). she taught me all the finer points of wine, and how to detect all the subtleties as you outline. we did used to laugh at the wine snobbery of it all, but i so love having this appreciation of what makes a sauvignon blanc different from a chardonnay, or a chenin, from a merlot to a shiraz. you are very lucky having a winery so close :)