Maggie Harrison
Lillian & Antica Terra

Myth or Reality?

I have never met Maggie Harrison, and in a way, I am very happy about it, because I was able to taste her wines long before I even knew that she was, or was herself, elevated to the status of the new Icon of American wine by declaring "The War on Wine", idolized by critics (read Alex Halberstadt's New York Times Magazine article), and sommeliers at the best American restaurants. It's hard for me to understand the reason for this craze, which seems to me to be based on speculative appearances before settling on personal choices. Although I believe, like Mrs. Harrison, that wine is the expression of the one who creates it, I am also certain that it is not possible for everyone to understand and access the holistic of its unique language.

To use the reference in Alex Halberstadt's article, let's take the example of Jean-Michel Basquiat. An artist can be technically a genius, and only reproduce what ordinary people can understand. Or being an ordinary human who desperately uses a medium to express their primary senses. I fundamentally believe that a genius is a being disturbed by the extreme acuity of their relationship with his senses, they are a being who is lucky enough not to have any inhibition with their inner self, nor from the judgment of the external world (the ordinary human). So, the question is: Is Maggie Harrison a JM Basquiat, or an artist who uses a specific natural acknowledgment (synesthesia of colors and smells) via wine blending to create her perfect harmony... her Umami wine, her Holistic wine, her Transcendental wine, and thus to rise to the status of a modern Renenutet? 

I concluded that all this was not very important and especially not very essential, because the main thing is the timeless, ephemeral, sublimatory work that it offers us (at a huge $ price).

I attach great importance to the human being behind the wine, because they are the visionary and the craftsperson who seeks to express their very personal vision of "pleasure". The winemaker, like the Chef, is a creator who seeks to transport you with their science of molecular assembly into the immaterial world of the ultimate and inexplicable pleasure of "Enjoyment – orgasm", an immortal encounter with the divine in the ephemeral of the moment. So it is far from essential to talk about the decoration and the dechrome of the artist, a creator is not an Instagrammable nor a fairground object, but a human being who desperately screams in the hope of being heard, of being understood.

To justify the exorbitant price of her wine, I would take as an example Yo-Yo Ma and his cello. Would you be willing to pay the price for the privilege of attending a Yo-Yo Ma performance alone to unite with the breathing of his instrument in a world of silence and harmony, and this for the time of a score? If your answer is yes, buy one of Maggie's wines not to own it, but to listen to her tell you about it.