One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the communal power of wine- It truly has the power to bring people together. You don't need to be a wine expert to appreciate the social power it has. You can enjoy the experience of drinking wine whether it is your first glass or your ten-thousandth glass (ya, I know that may be a bit much).

In the beginning it may just be a sense of light curiosity. What are these smells rising of the tip of my wine glass? You may be thinking it only to yourself- Enjoying the wine with others or alone. The social aspect of drinking wine can be as simple as a loosening of the tension in your life. If you don't have tension, it can make the joyful things in life that much more blissful. When I first started drinking wine it was as simple as a circle of friends sitting around talking about life, not about the wine, relaxing and piquing our curiosity for the first time.

As you drink more wine and become a little more seasoned you will notice the level of interaction growing. At first it was all about the people you were with, but now the wine truly plays a part. You start getting more curious about the color, bouquet, and flavors of the wine. "This wine tastes like that wine I had last week," you might say. You will start comparing this weeks pinot noir to last weeks pinot noir. "This Cabernet has more tannins than the Merlot I just tasted." In essence, you start to become intimate with the tastes that you have had.

Further beyond this, and where it really starts to get deep, is when you start sourcing your wines creation. How was this wine made? Where are the grapes from? What climate are the wine vineyards located in? What was the wine maker's vision when crafting this bottle? And even further, what can be done in the wine making process to alter the look, smell, and taste of the wine. What vintage is this wine and what was the weather like that year?; How did that weather change the wine?

The process of making wine is also very influential on the finished product. What wine making equipment did the winery use to create it? What type of wine storage do they utilize? Is the winery utilizing oak barrels? How long did the wine maker let the wine sit in each stage of the wine making process?

You see, there are endless questions and endless levels of depth that one can find in wine. Perhaps that is why it has intrigued countless wine lovers over centuries without fail. What level of wine drinking are you at? Are you ready to move on to the next?