Bottle X

Wine is a mysterious thing.  There are innumerable intangibles ranging from the concepts of terroir, minerality, and flavour, to name a few.  The science behind wine is constantly evolving but still there are very few conclusions.  Quality in the vineyard is being rethought behind organic and biodynamic farming.  And technology is at the same time helping produce more consistently great wine while taking the the tradition and heritage out of the bottle.

So, with all these variables in the modern world of wine, how does one evaluate a bottle of wine?  Scores?  Age?  Pretty bottle?  And does that one bottle of wine speak for every bottle with the same label?

Let's take a bottle of wine.  Grapes to juice to barrel to bottle.  How great is this bottle of wine?  To all the greatest tasters in the world, there may evolve a specific and definite profile of this Bottle X.  However, one can also argue that Bottle X is one specific, unbelievable small, proportion of the creation that is labeled the same as all of its brethren.

But Bottle X has a life, a story, a value.  These are all listed in the credits of the movie that is The Life and Times of Bottle X (coming soon to theaters near you).  And this film contains thousands of moving pictures that communicate interweaving subplots that provide our antagonist with a rollercoaster of dynamic experiences.

Along the life story of this bottle of wine, you are going to take a glimpse at it when you pop the cork.  Sure, the wine has lived a tumultuous life, but this is the single, minute frame that you get to see of the bigger picture.  As you savour the wine, you create a scene.  Decant it and see Act One.

And sometimes you see the boring part of a great film.  Maybe it's a thriller and you want to be along for the ride.  Or it could just be that one funny part of a dud that your friend made you try.

But the ending is still unwritten.  The reel will keep going and everyone will have their own snippet in the life of Bottle X.  And maybe you drink the last bottle and compare notes with all those other people on their experience of the wine.  Then you know exactly what that wine was and has been all about.  Then you could write the ending, and it could go something like this:

Fade to dark, damp cellar.  Unknown location.  Sepia tones.  Dripping water on cold stone.  Camera turns the corner.  Buried under layers of dust is another Bottle X.  Fade to black.

And...sequel!