It's difficult to find a wine lover whose refined tastes do not extend beyond reds and whites. It's generally safe to assume that everything a wine lover loves is a cut above. The better your wine collection, the better your taste in clothing, home decor, food, movies, and shoes. Developing a refined palate, holding the things in life to finer standards, it's a lifelong learning process for the wine enthusiast. Some folks practice karate, some people learn to paint, others lift weights or run, refining their bodies into an ideal shape. For a wine lover, aesthetics are the challenge. Developing your taste, your aesthetic sensibilities, whether we're talking about music, pipe tobacco, fine coffee or the feel of a luxury car, it's a form of self-improvement, of learning more and doing better where it matters the most: in the field of play.

Yes, to be a wine lover means to put more labor into your passions than some do into their careers. For wine enthusiasts, giving gifts is a competitive sport. We don't shame one another by buying spending more money, we impress one another by finding that piece of barrel furniture, that set of wine glasses, wine luggage, wine rack or decanter that is just right. Yes, for a wine lover, understanding a friend or relative's aesthetic sensibilities is just as important as understanding our own.

Far from the simple consumerism of surrounding oneself with overpriced flat screen television sets and things of that nature, a wine lover's home is a testament to good taste, to taking more seriously the frivolous, fun, and ultimately, most rewarding parts of life. To a wine lover, beauty is important, good taste is important. In short: you only live once, why not live as well as possible? By holding the things that we enjoy to a higher standard, we are able to truly live life to its fullest.