Nature has never created a product like wine, capable of exerting such an influence on people and culture across the centuries. Not only does it provide unparalleled sensory stimulation, it is also a living cultural asset, linking us with time and past generations. Wine is closely linked with history, geography, economics and a wide range of scientific disciplines. My relationship with wine, however, is not that of a scientist, but rather that of a consumer who knows how to appreciate a good wine, of one who tries to unravel the mysteries of this noble product. The fascination that comes with the pleasure of wine is always renewed, almost infinite: discovering its subtleties during a tasting, recognizing its characteristics, guessing, feeling the influence of nature such as provenance, grape variety or climate, or the care that the producer has taken with the wine. It’s all part and parcel of pleasure, and – I’m sure I speak for millions of wine lovers here – a major contributor to quality of life.
Let me draw a comparison with music. Knowledge of music is the basis of our love for it, not only in terms of what the composer wanted to express in his work – sequence of sounds, tonality, orchestration, rhythm – but also in terms of how the performer or conductor expresses this message. The listener is fascinated by the finesse of this ensemble. Undoubtedly, there are many similarities in appreciation between these two cultures. Among them are masterpieces as well as more common products. It was with this in mind that my twin sons – themselves both young pianists and excellent wine tasters – analyzed the similarities between music and wine. Among Burgundies, we found a clear association between a Côte de Nuits, particularly a St-Georges or a Bonnes Mares, and the Romantics, Brahms and even Wagner.
Côte de Beaune red goes well with a Romantic like Liszt right through to the Impressionists. An impressionist like Claude Debussy would ideally harmonize with a Volnay Clos des Ducs from the Côte de Beaune. Bordeaux is a better match for the classics and tender romantics alike. Each according to grape variety. To a St. Emilion and a Pomerol with a majority of Merlot, we paired Chopin, and to a great Médoc, Schumann or Schubert. A Château Margaux, which we had enjoyed, with Beethoven. Even a great dry Mosel, which Beethoven himself preferred, would suit him. A fruity, flowery Beaujolais would harmonize perfectly with the operettas and chamber music of an Offenbach or Saint-Saëns. It would be fun to continue this digression on the harmony of music and wine with many other grands crus. It would surely be worth a study, and an enjoyable one at that.
After these various sentimental and emotional comparisons, it’s time to return to more concrete, critical analyses. As far back as 1825, Brillat Savarin, in his work “The Physiology of Taste”, mentioned the influence of the sense of smell on taste: “For me, I am not only persuaded that, without the participation of the sense of smell, there can be no complete tasting, but I am also tempted to believe that smell and taste form but a single sense, of which the mouth is the laboratory, and the nose the chimney; or, to put it more accurately, of which one serves for the tasting of tactile bodies, and the other for the tasting of gases.” As for the definition of the sense of smell, I remember meeting Jules Chauvet in the Beaujolais region in the late 1950s.
In his studio, or should I say laboratory, were hundreds of bottles, large and small, containing every conceivable wine-related fragrance. He is, after all, the man who created today’s common, universal definition of the smell of wine. A true science. As I said at the outset, wine is a cultural asset. Already in mythology, wine found its legitimacy in “The Golden Legend of the Gods and Heroes” in Dionysus or Bacchus, fortifying us in this idea that the fermented juice of fresh grapes is a beverage worthy of the admiration and merits we accord it. Dionysus was first and foremost the God of sap; if he later stopped at wine, it’s because he undoubtedly considered it to be the first of the earthly saps. In this vein, a charming little story that I can’t resist reciting to you:
The legend of the vine
Dionysus or Bacchus, still a child, made a journey to Hellena, on his way to Naxia. The journey being long, the young god, tired, sat down on a stone to rest and saw at his feet a bit of greenery emerging from the earth. He uprooted it and took it in his hand, but as it was very hot, he feared the sun would dry it out before he arrived. A bird’s bone presented itself to him; he inserted the root and continued on his way. The vine grew so fast in the child’s hand that it soon outgrew the bird bone. Seeing a lion’s bone much larger than the bird’s bone, he inserted it and the plant it contained. As the plant grew, it overflowed the lion bone. Then Dionysus, having found a donkey bone bigger than the lion’s, put it in with the bird bone and the marvellous plant. He finally arrived in Naxia.
When he tried to replant the plant in his garden, he found that the roots had become so entangled in the bird, lion and donkey bones that it was impossible to free them. So he planted the shrub as it was, being full of sense, like the god he was. The vine grew rapidly. To his delight, it bore marvelous bunches of amber and purple, the color of the sun and the color of blood; he pressed them and made the first wine he gave to men to drink. And then Dionysus witnessed a prodigy: when men began to drink, they began to sing like birds; when they drank more, they became strong like lions; when they drank too much, they became stupid like donkeys. This is the lesson of ancient wisdom. Adapted from Maurice Des Ombiaux
According to finds in Tertiary and Quaternary terrain, the origin of the vine is usually found on the slopes of the Caucasus, in Georgia, and on Mount Ararat, in Armenia, where, according to legend, Noah landed with his Ark and saved this marvellous plant, which he thus bequeathed to Mankind. It’s in literature above all that many famous authors have referred to wine from Antiquity, I’m thinking of Greek mythology right up to the present day. Here are a few examples:
Hafiz in his poems (Le sourire)
Rablais in “Les paradis artificiels” (Artificial paradises)
Montaigne in his various essays (The art of drinking)
Baudelaire in “The Soul of Wine
Nietzsche in “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, the song of intoxication
Rilke in “Le Quatraine Valaisan
even Goethe wrote an Epigraph referring to Hafiz
… and many more …
For centuries, wine has been the subject of study in literature, the natural sciences and even medicine. As long ago as 1960, in his book “Wine and Health”, Dr. Jean-Max Eylaud, General Secretary and founder in 1929 of the “Comité Médical International pour l’Etude Scientifique du Raisin et du Vin”, chaired by Professor Georges Portmann, wrote about “the hygienic and therapeutic virtues of wine”. Today, medicine recognizes that wine, consumed wisely, is beneficial. Dr. Eylaud also wrote a humorous book entitled “Mémoires du vin”, illustrated by Raymond Gautier Constant and prefaced by Raymond Oliver, which I personally published in its day.
In the field of painting, vineyards and the work of the vines have been the main subjects of various painters. The great Swiss painter and graphic artist Hans Erni illustrated a wonderful book of texts by well-known writers. This work, “Ivresse, la vigne et le vin”, published in 1962, is a brilliant synthesis of literature and graphic design on the theme of wine. An equally interesting print, covering the entire wall of a room (approx. 15 m x 2.50 m), “La Bachenade” was created by Hans Erni at the Hôtel Continental in Lausanne. In music, there are above all many magnificent songs dedicated to wine, in all languages, which exude happiness and sociability. Even in astrology, the characteristics of wine and man according to their zodiacs resonate today. That reminds me, 25 years ago, in 1978, I wrote an amusing little booklet together with an astrologer, attributing a wine region to each zodiac. Of course, with the remark “se non è vero, è ben trovato”!
All these characteristics that can be attributed to wine testify to the great importance attached to it. As with the immediate pleasure of Mozart, Ravel, Beethoven, etc., in a concert hall, the enjoyment of Grands Crus is reserved for a minority of consumers. When it comes to both music and wine as art, we can’t avoid talking about consumers. However, these two styles of art are not an end in themselves, their success depending much more on the opinion of consumers at large.
A wide choice of new offers
In the good old days, people only drank wine from the region, and at best, from the country. The international wine market dates back to the 14th century, when the English, who didn’t produce wine themselves, imported “le Claret” – as they called it – from neighboring Bordeaux, and took it to their colonies, among other places. It was with the birth of tourism that consumers took pleasure in wine, above all in France, and it was through this that wine became a coveted commodity. Today, it’s the same with music. Thanks to records, CDs, audio cassettes and, more recently, DVDs, radio and television, the enjoyment of musical masterpieces has become accessible to millions of people, and is no longer just reserved for an elite.
In the wine industry, the scientific development of winemaking, the exploration of new growing grounds on every continent, and the discovery and nurturing of new grape varieties have greatly expanded the supply of high-quality wines worldwide. Thanks to professional marketing, new communication and transport possibilities, the partial abolition of customs barriers and the international market, the enjoyment of remarkable wines has been made possible for millions of consumers who had previously hardly ever drunk wine. The USA is a case in point. In the forties and fifties, I remember, hardly any wine was served, except in certain very exclusive restaurants. It was only with the cultivation of their own vineyards that Americans discovered wine. Today, these wines, some of which are of remarkable quality, are recognized the world over. What’s more, to this day, the USA is one of the world’s largest consumers of wine.
Years ago, the provenance of great wines was limited to France. The names of grands crus still resonate like music in the ears of connoisseurs. Although France still produces more great wines than any other country, it is increasingly facing serious competition from other countries and continents. Even in France, wine lists contain wines from the most diverse origins. When the first wines from California, South Africa, South America and Australia went on sale in Switzerland, some consumers refused, initially for ecological reasons, to buy wine that had travelled around the world. Today, transportation is no longer an issue. Quality and diversification of pleasure are far more important to connoisseurs, who have become curious.
This increase in production, above all on the new continents, is matched by a considerable rise in consumption worldwide. Competition in this global market primarily affects small and even medium-sized territories and mass production. This can be seen in the daily advertisements placed by the major distributors, in which they offer wines at a cost that barely covers production costs. Not to mention transport costs. On the other hand, grand crus whose production is limited benefit from the global market, which translates into steadily rising prices, as a growing number of consumers wish to have them as prestige wines all over the world. On the other hand, wines from well-cared-for, relatively small and well-situated plots, such as our Swiss wines, always find takers – usually regulars – thanks to their consistent, innovative and well-known quality at a very reasonable price.
An increasingly critical consumer
The subject of wine is dealt with in detail in the sections of various newspapers and magazines dealing with savoir-vivre and the pleasures of life; scientific and managerial magazines devote entire chapters to the art of wine; wine literature, lexicons and, not least, the richly documented wine offers of wine merchants convey a wealth of knowledge. As a result, consumers are increasingly well-informed, which in turn greatly increases the general interest in wine and its art in many circles. Well-informed consumers also become more discerning and critical. They have their say when it comes to quality and provenance. As with all consumer goods and services, value for money is under the microscope.
Unlike in the past, when consumers were divided into classes with a defined purchasing power and behaved in accordance with that class, consumer habits have changed radically. One day, we may be satisfied with a sandwich and a small table wine; another day, we may treat ourselves to an exquisite moment with a no less exquisite wine. Many amateur chefs – and cooks are barely mentioned – are proud of their culinary art and like to grace their guests with a particularly good wine. Many householders look after their cellars with great skill, and can talk passionately about them for hours. A well-stocked cellar is a status symbol not to be underestimated. Whoever is able to offer a Premier Grand Cru (classé) can count on the affluence and praise of his guests. A great deal of pride, love of wine and even a little snobbery are associated with one’s own cellar. Some consumers, however, neither true connoisseurs nor amateurs, drink grands crus and visit exclusive concerts just because it’s fashionable to do so.
With auctions, wine has also become a speculative commodity; either young families have liquidated the fine cellars of their parents and grandparents, or large speculative en primeur purchases are brought back to market by auction tranche. Prices for top-of-the-range wines are pushed to infinity. Christie’s, the well-known auction house, auctioned wine for the first time in 1966, thus equating wine with jewelry, valuable furniture and paintings. At its last auction in Geneva on May 12, 2002, it offered a dozen Château-Pétrus Vintage 1982 for CHF 32,000. The revenues of the two international auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s could amount to almost CHF 100 million a year, not counting wine sales at national and regional auctions. I don’t want to get bogged down in statistics that I’m sure you’re more familiar with than I am. One fact, however, has never been captured by statistics: where wine is consumed.
Experience and many years of observation have shown that wine consumption, which has long been predominant in bistros, cafés and restaurants, has now shifted mainly to private domains. Countless people associate wine with pleasure, joie de vivre and contact with others. Sharing emotions as well as ideas over a glass of wine is a desire that everyone has once expressed. Wine as a popular consumer product, as an integral part of culture and quality of life, is increasingly in demand. No matter who, how, when or by whom wine is offered and enjoyed, the consumer always has the last word. For producers who offer quality and are able to trigger passion and fascination with their wines, success is not far off.