In this week's episode, I'm answering this super thought-provoking question: Why is wine Important? Why does wine matter?

Karen MacNeil is a very well know wine writer, author of the  Wine Bible  (one of my favorite wine reference books) and an instructor of mine in the Culinary Institute of America's wine program. She recently asked the question, "why is wine important?" to a group of winemakers here in California and their responses got me thinking.

In reading her recent blog article, which also talks about the changes and trends in present day wine consumption, I was intrigued by this question. As someone who made a total life change to study, make and teach others about wine, it is definitely an important part of my life... but WHY it's important to me and to YOU?... well that took me a minute to wrap my head around. 

• Wine is the "taste of a place"
• Wine is an expression of the time when it was made and the people who made it
• It's emotion in a bottle (especially my bottles)
• It brings people together
• It's an ancient process that still exists today
• It's just freakin delicious

If you'd like to Support the Podcast, you can buy me a glass of wine or our producer Kathryn a bourbon) we would be so grateful!

Purchase a wine that is very IMPORTANT to ME (because I MADE it for you!) here. Use code PODLISTENER for 10% off.

Please consider Rating, Reviewing and Following Us on Apple Podcasts!

“Every episode is such a great blend of fun, education and personal experience! By the end of each listen I know more about the food and wine world than when I hit play (and am also usually hungry and thirsty for a lovely food & wine pairing)."

(Shout out to Elizloop for this great review.)

Want to leave your own review (and get a show note shout out?) 

Click Here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with Stars and select "write a review" and let us know what you loved most about this episode!

Want more tips to get the most out of your wine? Get my Wine Tips Cheat Sheet here.

Questions, suggestions and guest requests? nikki@sipwithnikki.com

And whether it's conscious and I'm recalling it and going, oh my gosh, this smells like, you know, and then it reminds me of XYZ. Or sometimes I'm not even consciously recalling that, but I'm having a reaction. How cool is that? Like what other thing are you putting in your glass, putting in your mouth that's making you emotional like that, right?

So I have to start off this episode with a huge thank you and a shout out to two of our listeners. Lisa T. and Elizabeth, who have both recently supported the podcast, um, in the form of a tip, essentially. And last night I was able to go to dinner with Catherine, our producer, and celebrate our almost, uh, round in the corner of 20 episodes recorded and uploaded.

edited and published and was able to buy her some bourbon and buy me a couple of glasses of beautiful Anderson Vallee Pinot Noir. We had a lovely meal at a new restaurant here in Sonoma County. So thank you so much for supporting the podcast. Uh, we'll shout you out if you do. There's a link in the show notes on how you can do that, and we appreciate it.

And in this article, um, she talked about, uh, recent, um, exercise that she did where she invited a few different winemakers from the area, put them on camera, and then asked them the question, why is wine important? And um, you'll read in her article, she talks about how these winemakers were sort of taken back by that question, you know, winemakers are so, smart and detail oriented and very quick to be able to, um, tell you, you know, the, the proper pH levels of what granache should be at the end of fermentation.

So here we go.

And it's different, right? Why is it different? Because the grapes were grown in different places. The climate, the soil, the land, the farming, the air, the wind, all of that is why there's so many different expressions of each type of grape in the world. Even before we introduce the human influence of winemaking and how did you ferment it and what did you age it in and.

Like to sit here in my house in California and to be able to taste Argentina in my glass in last week's episode, or to be able to taste, you know, Italy or Australia and, and really sense the place where this product and this agriculture came from, I'm nerding out a little bit. But it's cool. It's the expression of the place and where it came from.

Along the same lines, I think it's also an expression of the time from whence it came, right? When it was picked. So there's this whole concept of vintage in wine, vintage meaning the date that you see on the bottle and it's when the grapes were picked, not when they were bottled, but when literally they were taken off the vine.

I can't think of any at the moment. I'm sure there are some. Please write in Nikki at SipwithNikki. com or comments in social media. Tell me, because I'm sure I'm missing some, but I just think it's really unique how not only is an expression of the place, but the time. Once it's in the bottle, it's evolving and it's changing.

And we start at the beginning, maybe with a few couples that don't know each other. And at the end of our two hours together, They're exchanging phone numbers and following each other on social media or inviting each other to dinner. And yes, while there may be the, um, the lubrication effect of alcohol, that's making everyone super friendly, you know, even if they're not consuming more than just a little bit in a typical tasting wine, just.

It just does that. It gels and it brings people together. Karen McNeil, I believe, is the one who once said, and it always stuck with me, that wine is one of the only beverages that's not made in a single serving container, right? Now that was true traditionally when you think of a wine bottle. And yes, ha ha, some of us may say a bottle of wine is a single serving for us.

The other thing that I think is so cool about wine and therefore makes it important to our history as human beings is that wine was discovered. It was not invented. Think about that for a minute. Wine was discovered. It was not invented. The process of turning fruit into a fermented product Wine, um, was not some crazy thing that somebody thought up and said, let me try.

That's all fermentation is. That baseline process really has not changed over how many hundreds, it might even be thousands of years that humans have been making wine. Mm hmm. They first initially found wine. I think it was like, Oh, look at this basket of grapes that's been sitting here. And, and when I drink the liquid that's coming out of it, I feel happy.

Right. It was discovered, not invented. Now over time, have we added technology and, you know, different processes to refine it? Sure. Of course. But are those things necessary to make a drinkable wine? No. When I first started making wine a decade ago, We were making it in buckets and carboys and Rubbermaid garbage cans in my living room, right?

The other reason that wine is important, and this one's very personal to me, is that it can evoke an emotional response. And I don't know if you've ever had this experience, and you know, you might just be someone who's like, I like to drink wine, but it's not like bringing me to tears. I hope one day that you do get to put your nose in a glass of something that literally makes the hair on your arms stand up, like, goosebumps.

Because I was experiencing wines at that time that were literally bringing me to tears and I was fascinated by that like, what the heck is that reaction about? And, um, there just can be so layered and nuanced. And I think for me, as I, You've heard me call out already in this episode. I'm a very nostalgic person, right?

And so I think part of the reason that wine does evoke this emotional goose bump, teary eyed is because there are notes, there are things that I will smell in a wine that immediately trigger a memory. And whether it's conscious and I'm recalling it and going, Oh my gosh, this smells like, you know, and then it reminds me of X, Y, Z.

Or sometimes I'm not even consciously recalling that, but I'm having a reaction. How cool is that? Like what other thing are you putting in your glass, putting in your mouth that's making you emotional like that, right? And I think that's important, you know, to feel emotion, to feel memory, to feel nostalgia.

And, uh, I think that's important. It's important to take something that's already delicious and be able to, um, bring it to a whole nother level and increase the enjoyment. Y'all know I love me some joy. And so that reason is very much related to joy. And then finally, why is wine important? Because it just tastes damn delicious.

And I don't take that lightly. And luckily it's delicious because the grapes that they're growing are delicious. That's why we wanted to purchase from them. And, uh, I just, I'm so excited to share it with all of you. So check out our website, solovatowines. com. And don't forget there's a special coupon code for podcast listeners.

So what's important? Wine is important. It's the taste of a place. It's the expression of a time. It tells the story of when it was picked and the people who got it to that point. It brings people together. It was discovered and not invented. We've, we've maintained this ancient process for thousands of years.

So I just want to say thank you because you're one of them. Please keep listening and if you're enjoying what you're hearing, please rate this podcast if you're an Apple or Spotify. You can leave a star rating at the bottom, it's a five star scale. You can take a moment and leave a review. We've been getting some really great reviews, and if you have someone in your life who you think would enjoy this, please share.

Sip with Nikki is hosted by Nikki Lamberti, production and sound mixing by Katherine Bryan. You can always send your listener questions to Nikki at SipWithNikki. com or find us on the Sip With Nikki Facebook page or visit us on Instagram at Nikki Lamberti. Thanks for listening. Until next time, sip well, everyone.

This is Sip with Nikki, a production of Take 10 Studios.