Think about it for a moment. Here is an example by way of contrast: sake. Sake can be an incredibly complex beverage in terms of layered flavors and nuance. Sometimes sake is served in glass. It may also be served in porcelain. Or lacquer. Sometimes it is served in a hollowed out bamboo cup. And other times it is served to drinkers in one of these:
|Sake cups made of sugi, a Japanese cedar|
Or something like this:
|A sake cup made of hinoki, a Japanese cypress|
There are several emotional associations around these hinoki cups that I find fascinating. The cup itself is thought of in a temporal and very personal sense. A particular cup is meant for a particular occasion, a time of year, and a particular celebration. And then it is not used again. It is associated very directly with a particular person and that time in their life. There is a sense of moment, and also of fragility. The resonance of the particular occasion is specifically underscored by the drinking vessel. This time that we share this liquid together? It won't be forever. And it is more important and special for that. We won't be washing, hanging out to dry, and reusing this moment.
Why not with wine? Why is it that we avoid that kind of temporal aspect in our wine drinking? We do we emphasize how wine evolves over time instead of how wine shapes a particular moment?
Let me give you an example of how it could be different. Let's say we drank wine out of one of these:
What if you put one of these on the table, and told each of your friends to take up a drink to their lips?
I'll take it a step further. What if you took wine that had been matured in this way
And you went ahead and served it in egg shell cups?
Wouldn't that provide a sense of moment, and of resonance, that would be memorable?
During special occasions, isn't it that kind of sensation that we try to create? Why are we so limited in our imagination, as wine drinkers, when we try?
Why do we pay more attention to the shape of the ice than we do to the time it takes to melt away?