THE LEGATUM WAY

WHY Liquid Culture? 

by G. Seta 

· I have coined  the term "Liquid Culture" pertaining to wine tasting experience and in fact first introduced it publicly in February of 2020 at a Wine Tasting Event that took place at The Beverly Hills Hotel (see Photo Gallery), where I had the honor and pleasure of being invited  to train the Restaurant and Bar Staff about Malbec wines. 

· I was inspired by the concept of Liquid Culture to metaphorically reflect, in two words, on the essence of my passion for wine, described as follows ... 

·   Wine has the unique ability to take us to the place and culture ("TERROIR") and, better yet, make us "re-live the visit",  by the mere act of tasting all the subtleties of that wine from that region in particular, that dual and unique association from WHAT to WHERE: 

· Whether a Malbec to Mendoza (Argentina), a Barolo to Piedmont (Italy), a Syrah to  Barossa Valley  (Australia), a Zinfandel to Napa (California) or Primitivo to Puglia (Italy), a Tempranillo to Rioja (Spain), a Brunello to Tuscany (Italy), a Rhône-style blend or Bordeaux blend  to France, a Touriga Nacional to Duoro (Portugal), a  Torrontés to Salta (Argentina), a Tannat to Uruguay or a modern blend of GSM (Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre)  to Paso Robles (California), among endless examples of grapes (and blend styles) associated to a particular region and culture of the world, literally thousands of combinations to reflect the broad spectrum of winemaking and wine cultures around the world, representing both the Old World (Italy, Spain, France, Portugal at the top) and New World (Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa, USA,  among others), with Israel as a unique exception, as I consider it Old World with New World wine culture. 

· The "tasting" of wine versus the simple physical act of "drinking" wine is where the secret resides and what truly makes the entire experience radically different: 

· Understanding the process of navigating through all senses to allow such "interpretation" thus "transportation" from each wine to its original birthplace,  or adopted terroir, with all the attention to detail that took having that fermented grape in that bottle, with all the culture behind that place (where it was produced) reflected in the flavor, aroma, structure and overall complexity of that wine. 

· Wine Tasting is Art, it also creates Poetry, and it must therefore be interpreted to thoroughly appreciate it.  If you are hiking through the Colorado Canyon but you only focus on the river, you will miss out all the surrounding beauty, and energy, thus you will likely be limited to enjoying only one-third of the experience; in this case, without the basic senses of sight (vision), smell, touch and hearing, one cannot fully appreciate the physical beauty surrounding us. 

· Likewise, and even at a much deeper level, without the basic senses of not only the obvious ones: taste, smell, and vision, but also touch (to feel the quality of a cork, for instance), hearing (to celebrate the mandatory cheers by creating the noise from touching one cup against the other)  and here's "the other secret", the added "sixth sense" attuned to the subtler, non-physical sensations that aren’t obvious or perceptible by our other five senses, but rather by "associating senses" with places and lived experiences that are connected to those wine regions, whether one visited them (even better as it provides a more personal real sense of ownership which can create a Déjà Vu moment) or heard of.

· This intuitive sixth sense specially helps when we haven’t physically been at that place, yet it gives us the ability to "transport ourselves to any wine region we are tasting" through all our senses.

·  Curiosity is the mother of all inventions, so my perennial advice is to always "explore and learn", a key ingredient for an enriched life. 

· My wine tasting experience is fundamentally guided by the core principle, and enriching goal, of exploring as many wine regions, wine styles and wine cultures as possible in order to transform and ever-enhance one's palate, hence one's life.

· Granted, ideally, one should have first visited the place in order to be more easily "transported", yet it will also (and perhaps fundamentally) depend on one’s own sense of imagination (the sixth sense)  and also, as I call it, having "amplitude of palate" will help greatly, which is mostly acquired with both knowledge and experience, like most other things in life. 

· Whether one may or may not be able to experience such transportation from wine tasting to terroir senses, the secret is that wine, typically (and specially well-made premium wines) represents the local culture of each place where it's made, more so when it’s a wine from the Old World, so the main takeaway here, in a more practical sense, is that wine tasting provides a wonderful tool and healthy experience to travel often, and worldwide,  through a single cup of wine! 

· And that, to me, is THE SECRET:

· It's not about drinking a "Liquid", it's about tasting a whole "Culture". 

Safe Travels and Legatum Cheers!

- Guillermo Seta

Founder