[Book Sip] The Harmony of Masterpieces and Wine: 'Wine Stories Resembling Paintings'

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of the book itself, while others instantly reach the reader's heart, creating a connection with the book. Here, we introduce such meaningful sentences excerpted from the book. - Editor's note

This is an introductory book on wine that can be approached comfortably even if you don't know about wine, lack knowledge of art, or do not drink alcohol. The author studied wine in France and, with a decade of experience leading art museum tours, intertwined wine and art with engaging storytelling. It covers basic wine terminology, wine-producing regions and grape varieties that might sound like foreign words, and art pieces through 36 keywords such as harmony, love, comfort, belief, and change.

While studying wine and art together, one day I began to notice similarities between the two. For example, a wine bottle labeled with a heart and artworks expressing love, artworks capturing the passage of time and the changing color of wine over time, or paintings differing by the type of paint and wines differing by grape variety ? I discovered values and emotions common to both wine and art. That’s when I thought that by linking these two, we could learn about wine and art in a more enjoyable way.

- p. 6

Do you have your own way of viewing paintings in an art museum? Sometimes, when I visit museums, I look specifically for paintings that depict wine bottles or wine glasses. This is because the shapes of the wine glasses and bottles we use today are quite different from those in the past. It’s quite enjoyable to see the appearances of those times through paintings.

- p. 85

We often drink wine without really knowing why it is considered good or what we should feel while drinking it. Of course, if you enjoyed it deliciously in a pleasant gathering with friends, that alone is enough. But as the saying goes, “You see as much as you know.” If you approach wine drinking with a basic understanding of how to appreciate artworks and how to drink wine, wouldn’t you be able to spend your time even more enjoyably?

- p. 109

A bottle of wine on our table varies greatly not only in its brewing method but also in how it has been distributed and stored. Therefore, even the same wine can taste and smell different from bottle to bottle. Sometimes we encounter wines that seem like finished works but are actually unfinished, and in search of a perfect bottle, we embark on a daily journey into the world of wine as if we were travelers.

- p. 161

A Wine Story Resembling Paintings | Written by Jeong Hee-tae | Dongyang Books | 424 pages | 22,000 KRW