Kakao Brunchbook 6th Publishing Project Special Award Winner
Wine flows into the Glencairn glass -- deep ruby radiance, bewitching color. Swirling the glass gently. A vibrant aroma flies into the nostrils. Thirst rushes in. Lifting the glass to the lips. Slowly tilting. Wine flows over the tongue. Sweetness and smoothness. Closing eyes, sketching an image. The soul seeks consolation. Sometimes through music, sometimes through wine, sometimes through words written in the quiet of night. Wine and tango share an Argentine soul -- both emerged from Buenos Aires immigrant culture of the late 19th century, where Italian, Spanish, and African influences merged into something entirely new; tango is the music of longing and loss expressed through bodies in close contact; wine from Mendoza and Patagonia carries the mineral character of Andean snowmelt in its structure; when you drink Argentine Malbec while listening to Astor Piazzolla, you are not simply consuming two things -- you are accessing a cultural memory, a way of experiencing beauty and sadness simultaneously that is distinctly Argentine. The consolation the author finds: not in escape from difficulty but in the beauty that can exist alongside it -- wine does not solve problems, tango does not heal wounds, but they make the experience of difficulty more bearable by reminding you that beauty exists in the same world as pain.
