William Parker, The Peach Orchard (Aum Fidelity)

Love of wine is only properly expressed in its sharing-with-others, in its bringing one together with friends/family at one moment for a brief duration. The wine is the tactile, sensory embodiment of the relation in-between individuals, by which a society (social consciousness) emerges. But the wine does not solely exist in the duration of the now; it is also the living embodiment of the past. It has a history that grows from the dirt, changes form into liquid, into barrels, and into a process by which the full palette of flavors emerges. And hands. Hands planted it, waited for it, picked it, smashed it, fermented it, bottled it, moved it, sold it. And now that we're talking history, we're also talking about the whole history of agriculture and technology since the invention of the plow. You drink the wine now, but that relation of "in-between" you drink brings with it great difficulty. On the one hand, there is man's connection to the living earth, sustinence, farms, vineyards, orchards. On the other hand, man has extracted value from the earth - extracted product, extracted labor, extracted profit, manufactured pain. I will say this for William Parker, though. Dude's relentless, in his obligation to take the earthly ugly and transform it into the eternal now.

Suggested Wine Pairing: Although much in "The Peach Orchard" suggests wine, one must never drink wine with it. Only water, from as pure and natural a source as possible.