Reading a wine reads a place

Wine is the most honest map of a territory. Soil, exposure, altitude, the age of the vines, the hand of the grower — all of it ends up in the glass. To read a wine well is to read the place that made it.

This is why I never start a journey from a list of monuments. I start from the wine: it leads us to the vineyards, the cellars, the tables and the people who quietly shape a landscape. Tasting becomes a way of understanding, not just of pleasure.

Wine is agriculture, chemistry, history and human choice all at once. Read it properly and a territory opens up in front of you — layer by layer, glass by glass.