Watching the Oscars last night started me thinking about my favorite movies. And then about my favorite scenes in my favorite movies. The first time I heard Virginia Madsen say these words, in Sideways, I got the chills. I felt the same way on the second viewing, and the third, and the umpteen since. While drinking a glass of wine, she says:

I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing; how the sun was shining; if it rained. I like to think about all the people who tended and picked the grapes. And if it’s an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now. I like how wine continues to evolve, like if I opened a bottle of wine today it would taste different than if I’d opened it on any other day, because a bottle of wine is actually alive. And it’s constantly evolving and gaining complexity. That is, until it peaks, like your ’61. And then it begins its steady, inevitable decline.