A better way to grasp the essence of something is to look at the bigger picture. Over years of tasting, I’ve been drawn to a direct approach, which consists of jumping into the middle of things. I’ve found that if you start on the outside you often cannot get to the heart, and this is where you want to be. Some of the best descriptions of wine have come from people who could not analyze a wine to save their lives. They simply give an honest response to an experience just as someone would give to a Rolling Stones concert. Or, as Matisse said, they “observed … and felt the innermost nature of the experience.” Many people have difficulty doing this with wine because they believe there is a proper wine language and a correct response to each wine. They fear giving the wrong response.
Billy Munnelly, Billy’s Best Wines for 2005.
