Knowing the vigneron’s dog

No surprise here. This is the shortest post on the site. Practically every sommelier, retailer and importer of wine worth his salt today has met the person who has made the wine they sell.  And they will know the name of the winemaker’s dog. 

There is a simple reason for this. It is a more enriching experience to drink wine made by someone you have met - and even better if you have met that person several times. And it is even better still if you can call that person a friend (though you probably need to be in the business to be able to do that with any regularity). You know how hard they have worked to put that wine in your glass and you likely know more about the particular conditions that produced the wine - the steepness and exposition of the vineyard and the particular challenges the weather presented that year.  You know what the wine maker is trying to achieve and how he goes about meeting that objective. You know all the little decisions made along the way that shaped the wine. Above all you are first hand witness to the passion and the care that goes into making every bottle.

This makes the wine in the glass much more personal.   The passion rubs off.  You too have made some greater effort to understand the wine. There is no substitute. 

And the dogs are great too and have the most imaginative names.