Image by Polifemus via Flickr

I’ve been cruising around the wine world for a year and a half now. While I know more about wine than I did when I started I still have been unable to quantify what I’ve learned, am I any closer to understanding wine? Perhaps, but I still feel that I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface, which might be its allure.

I can differentiate the varied sections of Burgundy, but then there’s the Loire Valley and after that there is some other place or grape. Shakespeare once wrote, “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” This quote not only reminds me of my foolish roommate, but also those who decide to take wine too seriously. Don’t get me wrong a healthy enthusiasm for knowledge is great but mastery does not come when you have finished every book known to man about wine, nor after visiting ever major wine region. There are still those diamonds in the rough that make the journey through wine even more rewarding. A great example is the Tannat coming from Uruguay.

I never want to feel like I know everything there is to know about wine because then where would I go, its almost as absurd as conveying a complete understanding of life, preposterous. And while Tastevine will hopefully never be able to fully explain wine, we hope that it will give its users a tool in which to explore, to let wine’s mysteries draw you in as it has me. Cheers all of you fellow quaffers. And remember to share your experiences with friends so they can share the joys too.