A comparison between poetry and wine

A first thing the poetry business and the wine trade have in common: the best way to end up with a small fortune in both poetry publishing and winemaking is to start off with a large one. In part, this is because winemaking is often a highly personal project, just like poetry publishing, and people thus often do stuff that makes little business sense.

And then there’s the question of personal taste: I don't like big, oaky wines from Ribera del Duero. I do admire them in technical terms when they're well crafted, but I can never bring myself to enjoy them. Same goes for certain types of poetry.

Mind you, taste changes over the years, of course. I now can't stand certain wines I used to love, and have become a big fan of others I never appreciated in the past. Same goes again for certain types of poetry.

And what about wines that in objective terms might not be exceptional but fit a context perfectly? Or I associate them with a special moment, person or place? Same goes for certain poems.

And one last, extremely positive point: how do so many different styles of wine survive on the market, so many different interpretations of every grape variety and every terroir? Because there are so many different tastes. And all for them are valid. Same goes for the huge range of poetry that's written and read.