Let me introduce you to someone I have become acquainted with over the last two years. She is has a lovely character, somewhat demure at times. She rises to the occasion by being elegant and classy at dinner parties. She dresses up and expresses elegance while revealing her legs just a peek. As for looks, she is sexy and full-bodied and some would say voluptuous. As for her personality she may come across as complex but really she is sensitive and sheds a tear or two at times. When cornered she can be assertive or gutsy but not aggressive. She has a nose for picking (pun unintended) the aroma of food and drinks and has a palate of the queens. I reveal my admiration for her with a bouquet of red roses. She is no other than the one I love and adore – WINE.
In the paragraph above, I have highlighted in italics a handful of words used to describe wine. Being humans we have a natural tendency to project human words onto inanimate objects. This type of expression is called anthropomorphism. Some words imply action or motion but when used with a static object they accentuate its character. For example, the wine descriptors such as aggressve, gutsy, bold and demure create impressions in our minds of a person expressing through action or behaviour the characteristics symbolised by those words. Other nouns such as tears and legs are anatomical metaphors hooked on to the liquid called wine.
The appropriateness of such anthropomorphic terminology or the personification of wine is the subject of debate on this blog. To what extent such words truly enable a wine enthusiast to learn about wine I leave that question for you to answer. I do often wonder if the novice wine drinker on hearing these words, is not so much learning about wine but is being introduced to a new wine culture or to a world of wine snobs.
If I had sent you an email with just the first paragraph, would you have guessed that I was talking about wine? Is there an alternate group of words you can come up with that bettter describes wine?
