The obligation

K

Ken Schramm

Ken Schramm
I have been wondering to myself about this whole disorder thing at my own personal level. I feel the compulsion to continue to my education about wine, but why? Surely there is a part that is wrapped up in the whole Wilde/Shaw intellectual can-you-top-this thing that evidences itself in all of culture, and this corner of cultural knowledge is no exception. There are times when I find myself unable to disentangle that condition from my own desire to learn all that I can about those things which fascinate and enrich. I also feel a certain obligation to learn to the producers who work hard to create wines that provide both organoleptic and intellectual pleasure.

So if one feels an obligation to participate in this, to whom is the obligation encumbered? Myself? The game? The producers and distributors who make the wines available to us? Or is any obligation to anyone by oneself simply folly?
 
Why would you feel obligated to the producers and distributors? (Other than in a literal sense for bringing you the wine)
 
The obligation is to yourself: to live your life richly and fully. The specifics of the implementation are up to you, of course. Speaking for myself, each wine is a little mystery, a thing yet unseen and unknown, and I am moved to know it. Incidentally I am learning what I am able to detect with my senses and express with my language.
 
I would be most interested in what you were drinking (or perhaps smoking) at the time of this obtuse consideration... it is what it is.. no more, no less.. make of it what you will..
 
Obligations? The great thing about not being ITB is you can just enjoy what you enjoy, study what you feel like studying, drink what you feel like drinking.

As far as one-upsmanship goes, or wine knowledge as sport, racquetball, for instance, is a better outlet for those aggressions.
 
Jeff has pretty much hit the nail on the head here.

I will add that, for me, the more I know about something, the more I enjoy it, and this goes for wine, food, music, art, chemistry, etc. I suspect that this is the case for most people here. Others are not so afflicted and can manage to live a rich and full life without ever stepping foot inside whatever it is that we are in.
 
I get a bit of a reward from appreciating a bit of the hard work put in by the people who make great stuff for us.

There is the relief of knowing that you disagree with Brad.

The importers and distributors make a good margin. If I buy a lot of their stuff they do OK.

But there is a lot to be said for total ignorance and satisfaction with any terrible thing in your glass. Once you get on the slippery slope it can be hard to know where to stop.
 
For me, it's less an obligation of any kind than a grudge match with my brain cells. Smartass bastards are going DOWN!
 
more importantly, if a wine drinker opens a bottle, drinks it, loves it, but does not post a tasting note on it, does the drinker really exist? and was the wine really any good?
 
Why ask 'why?'? Why ponder our little universe?
Wines will continue to be made as long as grapes grow. Either that, or industrial alcohol and the former is a much better beverage than the latter.
And as long as grapes grow and are turned into elixir wine, there will be those middle-men to profit from the activities of commerce. Your job, as I see it, is to enjoy the fruits of the earth and investigate it's mysteries, but be not beholden to the mammon of its commerce or promotion, and to not put on pedestals those producers who hone its beauties. You shouldn't dismiss their efforts either, but it is more a symbiosis between you and the bottle. Seek, and ye shall find!
 
Smoking? Actually, the question came to me as I was mowing the lawn. I do feel an obligation to producers and those who bring the wine to us because I am about to get into the business in a small way, and for those ITB in any way at all, there is a lot of work and stress and commitment involved. I have an appreciation for that. That could be the literal sense, but it is also visceral to me.

Why ponder our little universe? Because I can.

Thanks for your comments. Especially you, Jeff Grossman and Chris Coad.
 
originally posted by Bwood:
Obligations? The great thing about not being ITB is you can just enjoy what you enjoy, study what you feel like studying, drink what you feel like drinking.
Click to expand...

Et voil...*

And for those of us who are ITB, we learn and we taste and we learn some more and then taste again and spit and write and then we try to do something with that knowledge and once we're finished doing important stuff with with this valuable knowledge, then it's time that we get to go back and drink the stuff we enjoy drinking. Like the 2006 Schellmann Gumpoldskirchen Cuve I'm working on tonight.
Schell_label.jpg
I can't say that it's a monumental wine, and it's probably not what I'd consider profound either; it's just a really good wine made by a really good guy and it's been a long day and I deserve to drink something I wanna drink that doesn't require me to get all intellectual over it. Sure, I can tell you that it's made from Rotgipfler, Zierfandler and Chardonnay in Austria's usually-underachieving Thermenregion, but my ability to quote chapter and verse about the producer's history and the exposition of the vineyards involved in the wine's production and the names of Fred's children, wife and cat, and andand and and AND! is all pretty much immaterial because the wine is steely-minerally and has some honeyed tones arcing gloriously above and it's actually working quite well with some ceviche left over from last night. It's the right wine for the moment and maybe the pleasure is enhanced because I now all sorts of weird stuff about it but wtf, it tastes good and I appreciate it and enjoy it and here I am at Wine disorder, sharing the love.

-Eden (one man's mead is another man's poisson)

*(sorry about the ellipses, but they did seem appropriate)
 
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