A Mailbag Column from an Eccentric Sommelier

by Jul 5, 2021Eccentric Somelier0 comments

DEAR READER:

As I’ve aged, it helps me to reach out to the youth. Everyone I speak to has to be 18+ (since I deal in wine), but reaching out makes me feel like I’m giving back to the Earth—giving it more energy to spin once I’m gone.

At least for now, before I get too fed up with this old place.

So, let’s begin with a Reader’s Question.

“I’ve made a sizable profit since investing in Facebook five years ago. Why should I invest in wine? Don’t you just… drink it?”

For one thing—you don’t have to deal with venture capitalists. They’re the most bombastic, inflatable bores of our time. Big talk, wild hairdos, but all following the same old rules—fun spin to a tired concept.

Seriously, though: allow me to answer your question with another: Have you ever sipped a Montes Folly? Have you even seen a Chilean wine valley, with your own eyes? Well, by doing the former, you do the latter, my friend. The grapes, matured for years—have such rich nuance, so matured in the bottle—they place you in those green fields. You can see it in front of you. Much cheaper than a plane ticket, if you ask me.

I used to think the pinnacle of taste was an expertly-prepared cocktail (I’ve aged since then, believe me). But, thirty-five years ago, when I was only twenty-five, I found God in the Grape. Each glass was an experience, with its own personal imprint. Truly: people are ultimately the same—but wines are individuals.

Invest in a wine, if you’d like. This is all why I don’t invest in companies… led by people. A person can only satisfy you for a few years, maybe longer if you really strike gold. But a glass of wine—no matter at what point in your life—that’ll get you drunk 100% of the time.

– Sommelier Ferdinand.

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