Opening Up

Wine lovers talk about how a wine opens up once its let out of the bottle.

When we pour wine into our glass and swirl, we’re helping the wine open up. It softens and release its many volatile components into the air, and our nose. A lot more happens, of course, as the wine in our glass opens up.

We may open up too while the wine does.

And for those of us who are patient and lucky enough to own several bottles of a special vintage can experience, over time, how a wine may open up and grow in complexity while ‘resting’ inside the bottle. Why else would we ‘lay down’ a few bottles for future years?

As a wine photographer, on many occasions I have had the great opportunity to capture how a wine opens up in the invisible domains. After all, I often receive several bottles of a wine I have photographed for a client. (Will work for wine holds real meaning for me.) ONCE YOU DELVE INTO THE INVISIBLE microscopic expressions of wine, you discover even more of the Winemaker’s Art; wine has a real life story to show and tell.

Recently I photographed a 2008 pinot noir from hope & grace wines. And then I enjoyed another bottle at Thanksgiving with my family and photographed that too. In one month the wine had become an even more beautiful expression, in my mouth and the microscope.

The Art of Winemaker Charles Hendricks, hope & grace