In an NYT article from May, Eric Asimov told a story of Dr. Michael Pourfar - a wine lover who has unfortunately lost his smell and taste because of Covid-19. The article is a journey of Michael to re-discover his senses and his passion for wine. Compared with social and tragic catastrophes that pandemic has caused, this loss is trivial. Michael himself acknowledged:
'Losing an appreciation of wine’s flavors was for me like losing the color red from my kaleidoscope. The world was still beautiful and I was grateful for the greens, blues, and other colors that remained...'
Yet trivial it may seem, the loss has changed Michael. He confessed:
'I realized something important and familiar was missing, and the world just isn’t quite the same.'
The pandemic comes and changes the world in the sense that it makes people, as individuals, start to see and re-think the meaning of everything surrounding our life. For us, it's the question of 'what is the meaning of wine? How our life would be if wine is not here anymore?'. These questions have been harbored in our minds and make us think every day.
Fortunately, we are not alone in this journey. Since we opened Naked Bottles, we have chances to meet and learn from people whose life connects with wine deeply. They are sommeliers, wine experts, and wine lovers. Each of them has different answers to our question.
So this series 'Portraits of wine - Why wines?' is an opportunity for us to learn more about their affair with wines. Each story is a piece to the puzzle that at the end of this story, we hope that we can craft a completed answer for our questions.
Are you ready?