The art of the grape: Durango Wine Experience is coming

“Wine is the only artwork you can drink.” – Luis Fernando Olaverri

How many ways can you describe the taste of a grape? You may have opinions on this, and if so, I encourage you to come to the Durango Wine Experience Walkabout Tasting next weekend and support local nonprofits. You can debate the merits of imbibing in the nectar of the gods and feel good about keeping Durango alive with cultural enrichment at the same time. The Community Foundation Serving Southwest Colorado has pulled out all the stops.

The Durango Arts Center is honored to be one of 10 downtown venues you can visit, as well as a selected nonprofit that will benefit from this great fundraiser. All you need to do is buy a pass (assuming you’re over 21) and come join 800 of your most intimate friends as you stroll through the event to truly “experience” wine from all over the world. You will find wines you’ve not seen in Durango before, and you will enjoy noshing with tasty appetizers along the way.

My favorite part is meeting the distributors who come here to share the stories of their vineyards – some belong to family, others are enterprising new business owners, but all are very passionate about the careful tending of their grapes. They will share with you details about each wine down to the soil that grew the vine, and the weather that made one bottle different from the next. It’s a great education in grape juice. I met someone at the event last year from Slovenia who offered canned wine and it was amazing. Now I want to visit Slovenia and visit his family’s vineyard which also looks particularly beautiful. Think of this as a travel guide where you learn about the wine first and the people second. Not a bad way to plan an adventure, or just to experience all of these places in only two days.

The appreciation and consumption of wine has come a long way since I remember my folks buying jugs of red Gallo in the early 1980s. At the time, rosé was pretty uptown. Sparkling wine was for those featured in Robin Leach’s “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” and Dom Pérignon would be best paired with Grey Poupon mustard and a Rolls-Royce, if you happened to have one. If this commercial isn’t familiar to you, you may be under 40.

In the 1990s, some of my friends trained as sommeliers and wine was starting to take off. Instead of just a shelf of cooking wine at the local store, we started to see actual wine shops opening up. I’ll admit, I was provincial and my friends sounded snobby – I often reminded them that no matter how flowery and poetic the language used to describe it, a grape is still just a grape. But now, I see how the passion and interest drives people to this study of history, culture, environment and more. From the passionate families operating vineyards across the world, often handed down through several generations, to the intricacies of the economics of a booming industry, the study of wine and how it shapes cultures and palates is only part of it. Really, the study of wine is about appreciating the sublime and beautiful things around us, just like any art form. This gratitude extends to our family and friends. The way we enjoy food and being together, is undeniably important, and the grape is often what brings us to the table.

Donate, become a member for discounts and to be a patron of the arts, register for classes, buy tickets at DurangoArts.org and https://linktr.ee/durangoartscenter

Brenda Macon has been executive director of Durango Arts Center since 2018.