By looking back to the past, to all the writings our ancestors left to us as a witness of their times and their cultures, among all beverages created by man, wine is the one which has been more frequently mentioned and it occupies a place of absolute importance. A truly singular fact, if we think we are talking about a “simple” beverage, that is something which, in its primary and essential function, should be used to quench thirst. Nevertheless wine is rarely drunk in order to quench thirst, indeed, when one is thirsty, wine is hardly thought as the solution. This is not only because of the deprecable and obvious effects caused by its abuse, first of all because wine has always played a primary role in social and cultural events among the people in which it was present, without excluding - of course - the high ritual importance to which this beverage was associated in many religions and cults. If we think to Christian religion, wine is essential in celebrating Eucharist, a ritual element considered as sacred, which therefore goes beyond the simple concept of beverage.

 With time, wine leaves its primary role of sacred beverage, it becomes a social beverage of communion, friendship, aggregation and union. It is not by chance the most important moments in the life of men are still today celebrated by wine, consumed as a beverage to wish good luck for agreements, the celebration of special events. In this sense, wine is still today considered as a sacred beverage. Despite social and ritual meanings which have been recognized to wine in the course of time, it is however undeniable wine is also a beverage capable of giving emotions. A good glass of wine - where to the word “good” everyone gives an absolutely personal meaning - it is capable of giving emotions, to satisfy a sensorial need, to have a moment of wellness. Is wine therefore capable of giving emotions? The answer seems to be, of course, obvious: certainly yes. If we ask ourselves about the kind of emotions a wine can give, the answer is certainly more complex: maybe it is even impossible to find an answer.

 The emotions a wine can give are in fact countless, as for everyone wine represents something absolutely personal. Something which goes beyond the simple act of drinking. Wine emotions are also associated to past events, persons met in the past and with whom we shared part of our lives and special moments, which are remembered with pleasure or with a negative feeling. Wine emotions are not only associated to the memories they can recall about a particular person, a specific producer, a particular grape or area. Emotions are also given by that truly personal conversation which takes origin in front of a glass of wine, a conversation which is not made by words, indeed, it is made by sensations, that is emotions. Emotions can be felt when we watch the color and the appearance of a wine in the glass: sometimes colors, nuances and brightness found in a wine are as charming as the colors of a sunset. Emotions are also given by the aromas which come out from the glass: there are wines that with time and patience can develop truly fascinating aromas that one could spend hours in listening to them.

 The great Luigi Veronelli - who is certainly missed by anyone in the world of wine, not only for all the things he did before anyone else in Italy for the beverage of Bacchus - in his truly personal communicative style, has created many words and definitions, now of common use, capable of describing the personality of a wine. For all those wines capable of catching the attention, to give emotions to the senses like a good friend, he created the effective definition meditation wines, capable of countless words and emotions, which can give a moment of wellness, of strong and satisfying emotions, that is, of meditation. The German writer Patrick Süskind in its novel “Perfume” recalls that «whoever dominates perfumes, dominates the heart of men». A definition which is pretty impossible not to agree, just because of the strong effects smells and aromas have in giving emotions to human beings. And how many emotions can give the aromas of a good wine? Endless, including the aromas capable of making us be in a field of flowers or in front of a rich basket of fruits, for example.

 The emotions a wine can give are not limited to the ones caused by the appearance or aromas: the taste can give emotions as well. Also in this case the many faces of wine taste are virtually endless, not only for the sensations of taste. In fact, emotions a sweet wine can give are different from the ones given by a red wine or a sparkling wine. Just like for aromas, also tastes are frequently associated to memories, to particular moments of life, memories of the past which in a moment become clear and strong in our mind. And it is also amazing to find in the mouth the flavors which amazed the nose first, not only a quality factor, but also the confirmation of what the nose promised. The emotion of taste goes beyond the moment in which wine is swallowed and - some more and some less - continue to give emotions with their taste olfactory persistence. It is also amazing to measure the time in which the taste of wine can be strongly felt in the mouth, until disappearing from our senses and becoming a memory.

 If we see things like this, wine seems to be a supreme beverage, almost perfect, in which we can see positive aspects only, or better to say, positive emotions. Of course, it is not like that. There also are negative emotions associated to wine, including, for example, speculations which can be done with the beverage of Bacchus, to overestimate it and to turn it into something it is not. The same can be said for the emotions - which are probably negative, but we should ask the ones who look for this kind of emotions in a wine - given by a deprecable consumption of wine which causes the negative effects we all know. After all, wine can be for men everything they want it to be and this is also true for every other thing. Positive, negative, amazing, surprising, charming, depressing, noxious or deprecable, it simply is a matter of choice. It is up to the one who decides to have wine to emphasize or to listen to the aspect which is considered the most attractive one, or simply useful in a particular moment. And it clearly is a choice the abuse of wine, something which can be hardly agreed. Maybe even in the stupidity of the abuse can be found an emotion, as well as can be found an emotion in the wisdom of being capable of loyally appreciating things, to understand them, and to listen to them, including wine and people.

 In this column are published our reader's mail. If you have any comment or any question or just want to express your opinion about wine, send your letters to our editorial or fill in the form available at our site.