by Christopher Bronke

As children, we are enamored with story, in fact, we live for and through it. We learn by it; we tell it; we write it; yet as we grow older, we forget about it, leaving it there on the dusty bookshelf of life, untold, unearthed. Or, and perhaps even more frightful, we simply become so forcefully overwhelmed by the grindingly numbing realities of life that the only story we know is that of blaring alarm clocks and screeching coffee pots, clicking keys and honking horns; we fail to see, to deeply search for the endless possibilities buried within the unexamined life.

This is why so many of us so deeply embrace the carefully crafted narrative inherent in a passionately poured glass of wine.  As Andrew Stanton, writer of Toy Story likes to share, the key to any great story is simply to “make me care.” And wine so delicately does this in a way so few things so simply can.

They say that the average person spends 15 seconds looking at a piece of art in a museum.  All the greats, from Monet to Picasso, Hopper to Kahlo, cast an intellectual grip on their viewers for roughly one-quarter of one minute; however, a glass of wine (even if consumed unexplainably more rapidly than logic should dictate) consumes one’s presence and pallet for at least five minutes...or twenty times longer than the greatest artists of all time.

Why?  

Because wine “makes us care”, it subtly elicits responses from our senses that conjure up the stories.

As author Ransom Riggs shares, “I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was”, and it is a piece of art like a Julianna Glass that takes the ordinary stories of wine and reminds us how extraordinary they really are.

Each sensual swirl, etched with perfection, elicits, within its passionate precision, the extraordinary--the unexpected turn from a grueling day; the intimate expression or a forgotten soulmate; the delicate embrace of unexpected emotions; the unwritten symphony from moments yet unknown.  

These glasses don’t simply enhance the drinking experience; they inspire the soul to sing the melodies of life and the harmonies of love.

So it is in this spirit that I encourage you to embrace your story and let your Julianna Glass help you explore the memories dancing within your soul. And in the shadows of “making me care”, here is my offering to you:

Pour one of your favorite wines into one of your favorite Julianna Glasses, dim the lights/light a candle, and play Frederic Chopin’s Prelude in E Minor. As you do, keep your eyes closed and let your emotions blissfully succumb to the memories inherent in each scent you inhale, each flavor you detect, but let your fingers trace the story of the glass, gliding deliberately along the journey of etching carefully carved around the glass and now in your heart.  And when the song ends, open your eyes, take a deep breath, and embrace your story...

YOUR extraordinary.