Hey readers - thank you so much for shape-shifting with me over the past two years. The free newsletter has finally found its groove as The Whole Story, a dispatch aimed at filling in the blanks that formal wine studies often leave and teaching you to build a personal connection with wine.
I hope you find this to be a helpful supplement as you build your knowledge of this wonderfully complex topic.
The Whole Story
A roundup of wine writing and news about the parts of the topic your formal studies don’t cover.
The French Colonization of Algeria and the Untold History of the French Appellation System
For anyone specializing in French wine, this history is wild.
How Darwin’s idea of coadaptation played a role in understanding phylloxera in the 19th century—did you know that Missouri’s first entomologist played a major role in identifying phylloxera and advising on its solution?
The truth about the (possible) origins of one of wine’s most misunderstood words: foxy. Plus, how human bias has informed its use.
Wine 2 Ways
Do you talk about wine for your job? Then you’re a wine communicator, my dear. Each month I’m demonstrating the spectrum of possibility for you. One wine bottle written two ways. Let’s go!
Technical
Nose: red apple, juicy pear, melon, lemon, peony, clay-like minerality
Flavors: juicy apple, arugula, lime pith
Structure: high acidity, medium-bodied, long finish
Personal
The wine is as boppy as it is laid back. While I was tasting, Charmed by Σtella & Redinho came on, and the wine felt similar to the juxtaposition of the beachy guitar riffs and the vocalists elongated, copper tone. The ripe fruit flavors balance out the saliva-leeching acidity with understated sweetness. Then, after enough listening, savory notes emerge in an undertow: there’s arugula, there’s umami, there’s lime pith.
I’m not a point-giving writer, but I would happily unload all of mine on this dock in a another life.
Homework Assignment
A suggested exercise for you to build a personal relationship with the topic of wine.
This month: Get yourself a glass of wine (or a bottle, whatever!). As you sip, choose a fictional character that you think would drink it, or embody it. Write a few sentences (on a paper, napkin, or your partner’s forehead) about why you’re assigning this character to this particular wine. It might help to ask:
what attributes does this wine have that remind me of this character?
what attributes does my character have that remind me of this wine?
why would my character like this style of wine?
what activity would they be doing during, before, or after drinking it?
Jimmy Buffet and rose a French bottle of Domaine Ott