"Some wines make me shiver. It’s not about context—out with friends, or with someone I love. In fact, it’s rare that I’d pay enough attention to a wine in that context to react so viscerally. It’s more likely to happen during a tasting, when I’m focused completely on the wine. What’s cool about tasting blind, without knowing the producer or the price, is that the juice itself can drive an emotional reaction. And what’s even wilder is when that same wine elicits the same reaction six months later, out in the world. That happened to me recently with a wine from the Mendocino coast, a syrah Jason Drew makes from the Valenti Vineyard, which grows on a ridge six miles from the Pacific. The wine has a scent and a texture that makes my chest tingle and my brain hum—an emotional reaction as much as a physical one. " Joshua Green Senior Editor
