Using wine as a ruler to measure the beauty of humanistic scenery
When talking about the humanities, everyone probably thinks of things like literature, music, film, art, and so on. These things have no fixed formulas and no correct answers; right is simply right, and only the person experiencing it knows whether it is right. By contrast, in non-humanistic fields such as calculus, anatomy, and engineering, everyone can immediately feel the difference. To put it plainly, the humanities are a field about sharing feelings and stirring emotions. Although I too have felt the thrill of finally solving a calculus equation, I would rather classify that under humanity's most basic desire to survive.
If I say wine belongs to the humanities, I think some people will feel thatquenching thirst and getting drunk are probably among the few connections between wine and the humanities. However, I have found that on the happiest nights in my memory, I usually do not have much of an impression of those wines. They are neither First Growth chateaux nor aged cellar treasures. Those occasions usually have food and good friends, the details are vague and hard to recall, and if you asked the friends who were there at the time, they would probably just say it was awesome.
Compared with enjoying it alone, wine can be said to be something shared and enjoyed together. If you open a bottle at home by yourself and accidentally discover that it is very delicious, I think the most painful thing isthat only you know it is a good wine.
That complex fragrance like a field of flowers, and that sweet finish like fresh fruit, even if there is someone you can tell, unless the other person also happens to have drunk it, the later helplessness is no less than having a goal disallowed after scoring; anyone who has studied wine even a little will clearly understand the influence of sunlight, plots of land, temperature, winemaking methods and so on on wine. Although this has nothing to do with the humanities, the overall spirit is very humanistic. If we really want to say what has brought these two words to their fullest and most earth-shattering expression, it would have to be that manga series The Drops of God.
From the words of a will, one can correctly find a certain bottle of wine, relying on the participants' sensitivity in precisely converting the emotions of the text into the characteristics of the wine. It is not hard to say, and not easy either: clear streams, scorching deserts, bleak late autumn, the biting Matterhorn, corresponding perhaps to Western Australian Chardonnay, the opaque Tempranillo of Spain's Toro, aged Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and the aloof Puligny-Montrachet, except that the feelings of the manga's protagonist are even deeper.
If we speak of the term classical music, an outsider like me will think of elegance and complexity, but in the context of medieval Europe, these were all popular music, carrying the bearing of gentlemen and aristocrats; the times created the difference in feeling. If we speak of wine, a small European farmer might see it as a beverage, and its status would be about as ordinary as egg fried rice.
Everyone's purpose in drinking is also different. Some people use it to quench thirst, most use it as a catalyst for gatherings with friends, some form gatherings centered on wine, and some simply want to get drunk. So many possible behaviors mainly arise because wine is delicious, diverse, and worth discussing. Perhaps some people say that wine should return to the basics: the fruit grown by plants, taken and brewed well, is just for drinking, and discussing it this way is too superficial. But people who say this like to discuss it and thereby gain intellectual satisfaction, while people who just drink and do not like to discuss it may gain friendship among friends; just on the matter of studying wine alone, everyone's feelings are different, and they will also seek out people with the same aroma. This is a very humanistic model of behavior.
Wine has too many appearances: style, taste, price and so on, influencing everyone's decisions, and the wine you drink also influences the circles you will join and the friends you will meet. Those with greater financial means drink DRC and top Champagne. When the liver is limited and money is infinite, this is an inevitable choice,but it is only a minority; people who do not usually drink like wines that are not sour, not astringent, and easy to drink, and even a little sweet is very good, though a veteran with some experience may frown upon hearing such a description; there is also a group of people who, after many layers of refinement, have reached the point where in Bordeaux they do not want to buy famous wines because it is too boring, so finding small appellations and native varieties becomes their goal; you absolutely would not want to put the above three groups of people with different needs together, or at least it would not be a wise move.
Find a few like-minded friends, bring a few glasses you can afford, open a few good wines you are eager to try, order a few dishes with charming flavors, and come be humanistic for a while.
Source: Wine Think Tank