Many people, when thinking about wine, think about a red wine in winter, in front of a fireplace, paired with cheese. In reality, wine is much more than that.
There are wines for all the four seasons of the year, for every occasion, to pair with any kind of dish, for every taste, and for every pocket. There are red, white, roses, sparkling, fortified, and sweet ones. And within each kind, there are full or light-bodied wines, old or young, very dry, with almost no sugar at all, and the very sweet ones, with more than 700g of sugar per liter. There are wines with only 2% of alcohol and other ones with 22%. There are wines made from unripe grapes and even some made from almost dry raisins.
The are infinite possibilites and there is always a type of wine suitable for every occasion.
The following text is an excerpt from my book:
Wine & Context
“As rare as it is, or older
Only one wine is indeed excellent:
The one you drink calmly
With your oldest and silent friend”
Mário Quintana.
Wines for Every Occasion
Wine doesn’t only pair well with food, or music, as I have already talked about, it also matches well with an occasion or specific contexts. Circumstances can definitely influence our appreciation of a good bottle. Our state of mind, the people who you drink with, the room temperature, the music, the lighting, the decoration, the view, the season, everything that was drunk before and that we plan to drink after. The occasion will complete the sensory experience meaning. For sheer fun, we can delineate a wine classification in the following way:
Some wines, like some musical pieces, play a specific role. For example, preludes, or openings, prepare our ears for what will follow. We can, therefore, call these wines, wines of introduction, whose function is to sharpen and prepare the palate. As for the conversational wines, their purpose is fraternization and companionship, just like in Neruda’s poems: gregarious, drinking to the sound of stories and laughter.
Pretext wines are mere distractions, also known as entertainment wines, they play the same role as popcorns for movie buffs.
Wine for visits, or for hosting events, have a certain formality to it, the chosen label varies according to the significance and importance of the ceremony or guest.
The refreshing wine is that which, like the nostrils, opens before its freshness, and the palate, before its acidity, it makes the heart open to life.
Corporate wines, with many digits on the price label, are suitable for closing big deals. Also related to ostentatious wines, for those who “possession” is more important than “experience.” At the same level, we have dream wines, those whose prices and rarity drive them away from our reality and brings them closer to our fantasies.
The important wines, suitable for important people; and even more important wines, for simple people for whom any wine is a gift. Many aim to taste a special wine to celebrate 100 years, but this can be the same used to celebrate every minute.
The wine of the technicians – agronomists, winemakers and farmers – for them, wine is more than something fermented from grapes, it is their sweat, daily labor, dedication, and sustenance. Opposite of the Apollonian wine of professional tasters, classifications, rankings and guides; Related to the objective and practical ones’ wines that want the “best” for their money, and seek this “best” in the guides.
There is still the poetic wine, although the poetry is not within it but within the one who drinks it and stands on its vindication.
Let us not forget the useful battle wine, when quantity makes quality impossible, very common in vernissages, weddings and autograph events.
Also, why not, the wine to get drunk, because it is necessary to be moderate in everything, even in moderation, even if sometimes we indulge in some excesses.
The only wine I do not know is the wine of sadness and loneliness, because it sours quickly, known as vinegar.
Above all, the wine of joy, because without joy, neither life nor wine are worth it.
By: Marcello Copello
***Grabbed from: http://blog.winetourismportugal.com/wine-for-every-occasion