At one with the universe
A joyous, rolicking testimony of the power of wine to turn men into gods, or at least make them feel that way. Zorba’s exuberance and vivid experience of even the commonplace makes him a world class nuannaarpoqian. May you occasionally feel as if you will live a...
A hamper of friendship
Something magical about hampers and other gifts of food and drink. I could live without the arack, but love the cheese, pomegranates, and raisin and fig selection, a perfect picnic snack. See also Pliny the Younger on a gift of dates.’A little later he sent us...
Nothing more marvelous
A delicious dinner with friends, the table noise, also the talk noise. In our case, these are mostly at home, so we are the waiters filling the glasses and plates. The summer is coming and if it is kind, we can hold most of those dinners in the garden, accompanied by...
Fruit and more
This line from a George Herbert poem bespeaks a sense of abundance and satiety – the wine is made of grapes, so you don’t need them besides. Herbert collected nearly two thousand aphorisms and they echo in his poetry. ‘But can he want the...
An ideal summer evening
All that wine-tasters’ lingo about bouquet and tasting of tires or leather, not a patch on Keats’ description of the effects of good wine sipped in an arbour on a summer evening. Keats is at least as good a letter-writer as he is a poet, and his...
Don’t wait too late
This quirky but reasonable injunction correlating wine with life and life with wine comes from a letter Ingrid Bergman received from Erich Maria Remarque, author of the searing All Quiet on the Western Front, about German soldiers in the First World War. A gentle...
A confluence of colours
What is your idea, experience or dream of a timeless afternoon? A timeless afternoon is in a bottle of rosé on a table by the beach. I picture walking towards a low table in the middle of yellow fine sand, a light breeze in my hair, the ocean waves washing softly onto...Yes, sign me up!
